Out of Nothing At All
by Maygin
Summary: Continuation of Tale of Six Jumps - Apocalypse averted, the siblings are trying to maintain some sense of normality but evolving powers and a certain mysterious redhead seemed determined to thwart their efforts. Rated T for language. Includes all the siblings but is more Klaus-centric.
1. Chapter 1

**Out of Nothing At All**

**By: Maygin**

Summary: A continuation of Tale of Six Jumps - Apocalypse averted, the siblings are trying to maintain some sense of normality but evolving powers and a certain mysterious redhead seemed determined to thwart their efforts. Rated T for language.

Author Note: I honestly hadn't planned on continuing my previous fic, however, after spending countless hours reading all the Umbrella Academy fanfics out there, I couldn't shut my brain off from certain scenarios I kept wanting addressed but just wasn't. I'm sure other authors have done something similar and I either missed it, or just wanted more. I'm a needy wench, what can I say? This is mostly based on the Netflix series, however, aspects of the comics fascinated me and I really wanted to see some of it come to fruition in the Netflix verse. I have about 85% of this story already written and will be posting weekly or more depending on my own impatience :) As always, reviews are very much welcome!

**Chapter 1**

Ben's head felt heavy against his fist, his eyes blinking slowly, accompanied by a sigh through his nose. He was starting to become concerned with the amount of family meetings that were called into session since their father had passed. He didn't think normal families called for special meetings whenever they needed to discuss something, but what did he know?

He knew he should just be grateful they were all making an effort at being open, honest and inclusive with each other for once. The apocalypse had been averted, yay. Five had dumped them from the timeline into the night following their father's funeral. Not one of them had even considered debating whether they should've jumped to prior Reginald Hargreeves death. It was just accepted that they were all better off without his presence.

Vanya, still tortured with guilt, kept quiet for the most part; but was opening up slowly the more they encouraged her and asked her opinions. Pogo had taken the news of their recent ventures with minimal upset and actually seemed quite proud of their thwarting of the apocalypse. He held no more secrets back and shared everything he knew that Reginald Hargreeves had bothered to impart. They'd spent the last three days pouring over their father's journals, notes and recordings; anything they could get their hands on.

It was now day four and Luther had called yet another family meeting to discuss the one family member who was currently absent and had been since returning from the apocalyptic future.

"Do you think maybe he should...see a doctor?" Luther hedged.

Vanya's forehead puckered a bit, the thought had crossed her mind more than once, however she could already foresee the outcome of such an encounter. It was Diego, however, that voiced it.

"Like a psych doctor? Are you out of your mind?" he chastised harshly. "The second Klaus opens his mouth they'll be pumping him up to his eyeballs with meds. He'll be right back where he started."

"Well what are we supposed to do? He can't stay in his room all the time. It's not healthy."

"Nothing about Klaus has ever been healthy," Five spoke up from where he sat on a bar stool, casually leant back against the bar. "The fact is, this is probably the least destructive thing he's ever done. I say we leave him be for now; give him some time."

"He's not eating," Allison reminded.

"He's not high either," he responded, his gaze bouncing between them. "We're not a normal family, guys. We don't get to celebrate birthdays or promotions like normal people. Klaus just spent three days surrounded by a world full of traumatized and pissed off ghosts. And his power evolved in the midst of it. Lucky him," he spoke so casually. "I, for one, count it a win he didn't go running to the nearest dealer the second we got back."

The room was silent for a moment, all eyes on the shortest member. Luther was the first to blink and speak. "Are you...praising Klaus?"

Five sighed and shook his head, sliding from the stool and then micro-jumping from the room.

Diego nodded along with Luther's sentiment. "That was super weird."

"Five grew up without us," Vanya explained softly. "Now he has to re-grow up _with_ us. He's trying; he needs time," she shrugged. "Klaus needs time. We _all_ just need some time...to re-acclimate to one another, remember what it's like to be a...really weird family."

Ben sighed and pushed himself up from the couch, they really weren't getting anywhere anyways. "I'm going back upstairs."

"No," Vanya halted him and then hesitantly offered, "You were with him all night; I'll go sit with him for a while. Take a break."

Ben hesitated as well but then nodded gratefully. It wasn't that every fiber within him wanted to be there for his brother, to help snap him out of whatever funk he'd drifted into...but he'd also just recently re-joined the living. After 13 years, he was able to speak and be heard by anyone with ears to hear, able to touch, smell, taste, feel...and all he wanted to do was find a warm corner, curl up and get lost in a book for a couple hours.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Vanya paused at the door which sat open for all to see after they had removed the lock. Klaus looked so small curled up against the headboard of his bed, head tilted toward the window, just staring; at what, she had no idea. He was so still and quiet, and so completely un-Klaus it made her stomach feel hollow and empty.

She lightly knocked on the door frame despite knowing it wouldn't faze him and then quietly entered. Climbing onto the bed she sat shoulder to shoulder with her brother. She didn't really know what to do so she just looked out the window with him. Eventually she slid down a bit and rested her head on his shoulder. To her complete surprise, his head turned and gently rested on top of hers.

She was suddenly reminded of her time locked in the quiet room in the basement. She remembered slapping her hands against the thick plastic window, crying, apologizing and pleading with her siblings to forgive her. She hadn't noticed it in her panicked state at the time, but looking back, she remembered the absolute look of dread and trepidation on Klaus' face as he realized they were locking her away in what was essentially a dungeon. She couldn't hear their words, but she could tell by his gestures that he'd argued with them to let her out.

It was appreciated now, but she couldn't rid her mind of the expression on his face when he'd looked at her. He hadn't solely been arguing for her freedom; hadn't only seen _her_ locked in a room. There had been a far away look in his eyes at one point that was saturated in fear and terror. Funny what your mind remembered when at the time you were so involved in your own panic and hysteria.

She understood now; Klaus and her were more alike than any of the other's could comprehend. They'd both been locked away in dark places for their own good...alone with their own thoughts and ghosts to haunt them. She reached over and threaded her fingers through his and just sat with him like that for a while.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Five leaned back in the desk chair, ignoring it's squeaky protests, and sipped at a to-go cup of coffee he'd picked up at Griddy's and jumped back home with. He contemplated the many screens flickering before him, one in particular had drawn his full attention. It was the feed from Four's room.

Klaus had been sitting on the bed in the same position he'd been in the last couple days, staring out the window without a flicker of emotion. Nothing new there, until Seven had entered. She had crawled up onto the bed next to him and sat for a bit, a faraway look in her eyes; likely trying to make sense of the last week...or their entire lives.

It was when Seven had shifted and rested her head against Four's shoulder that he suddenly froze and leaned closer to the screen, setting his coffee on the desk, forgotten. Something had happened to the feed, but in a very peculiar way that had him rewinding the feed and playing it over and over. Immediately after Seven rested her head on Four's shoulder, the image around Klaus seemed to blur and fuzz out a bit; the rest of the image unaffected.

After multiple viewings and no closer to a conclusion or explanation, he let it play, watching as the odd defect suddenly cleared and Four leaned his head on Seven. The two linked hands and soon after drifted into sleep.

Five remembered his coffee and leaned back in the squeaky chair once more, sipping at the black liquid. Maybe he _was_ addicted to drama and the unexplained...he was okay with that. Especially if it involved his family.

If there was one thing he'd learned in the last 40 something years, apart from each other, they were dangerous, loose cannon's capable of destroying the world. Together, they were still dangerous, loose cannon's capable of destroying the world, but they somehow, in the most screwed up and amazing way, they seemed to balance one another out.

And somehow that made it better.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Vanya nearly tripped as she hurried down the front hall steps. Diego and Luther were there to greet her, hearing her stomping, rushed feet and coming to investigate.

"Have you seen Klaus?" she asked, out of breath with wide, panicked eyes.

Luther frowned, "I thought _you_ were with him."

"I was," said admitted guiltily. "But we fell asleep and when I woke up, he wasn't there."

"What's going on?" Ben asked warily as he and Allison followed down the stairs, hearing the commotion from their rooms.

"Klaus is missing," Diego announced severely.

"What?" Ben's eyes widened with shock as he looked for confirmation from Vanya who nodded regretfully.

"Found him," Five's voice called from downstairs. The other siblings raced down the stairs to the basement communal area and paused behind Five who stood at the entrance with his hands in his pockets and his usual calculative frown in place. They all stared at Four who sat frozen at the table with a bowl of cereal and spoon halfway to his mouth, watching them back with equal curiosity.

"What?" Klaus asked around a mouthful of Cap'n Crunch. There were a stack of bowls on the table with spoons, milk and several boxes of different types of children's cereal scattered about.

"Dad doesn't let us eat sugary foods," Luther said, dumbfounded and going with the only sensible thought he could grasp onto.

Klaus shrugged. "Someone left them at the back door," he said innocently and just like that he was back to eating.

Diego felt his forehead scrunch as he took a step forward. "Some random stranger just left a bunch of cereal boxes at the back door and the first thing you think to do is eat them?"

Klaus shrugged defensively. "I was gonna share," he pointed at the bowls, spoons and milk he'd set out. Ben smirked and walked up to the table, investigating one of the boxes. "I'd avoid that one," Klaus suggested, "bad aftertaste."

Allison was next to join him, grabbing a bowl and reaching for the Smacks box. Eventually they'd all grabbed a bowl and were trying different cereals, commenting and judging each one by different standards. Except Five who contentedly sat sipping at a new cup of steaming coffee.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Diego pushed the door to the observation room open and slid into the squeaky chair next to Five who didn't bother acknowledging his entrance. He looked over the familiar screens.

"What made you think of getting cereal?" Diego asked with a smirk.

Five's chin puckered as his bottom lip pushed out and he shook his head. "I didn't get the cereal."

That gave Diego pause. "It wasn't you?"

"No, some random lady in a blue coat dropped them off."

"What?" Diego stared at Five, gobsmacked. "You saw it?"

Five nodded and pointed to the screens. "On the feed."

"And you let us _eat it_?" he asked slowly and in a voice that expressed patience but really meant he was restraining himself from grabbing a knife. "Have you lost your mind?"

"Here," Five announced and pressed a couple buttons on the console, "look at this."

Diego pressed his lips firmly together, still pissed and questioning his brother's sanity as he turned to watch the two monitor's Five brought up a feed on. One feed showed the back entrance door. The other feed was of Klaus' room with the crazy brother himself huddled in the corner of his bed, unmoving as he stared out the window. Diego hated seeing his brother like that, it legit hurt. Klaus had always been a constant live wire of energy and movement and words...lots of words.

Seeing him curled up so small and with such a complete lack of any kind of emotion or movement other than the occasional blink or slow rise and fall of chest...it caused a weight in his chest that he couldn't shake. "What am I looking at?" he cleared his throat when his voice caught.

Five didn't response, just moved the video forward a bit until Vanya had entered and climbed onto the bed. That was when the lady in a blue coat opened the back gate and walked up to the back door with two large shopping bags in hand. The woman set the bags down on the step and then suddenly the image around her blurred and fuzzed a bit. When it went back to normal, the woman looked confused, taking in her surroundings. She left the bags and hurried her way back toward the street completely befuddled until she disappeared out of site.

Diego was about to comment again at his brother's sanity but Five held up a finger and rewound the feed. He played it again and this time pointed toward Klaus' room. They watched Vanya enter and climb onto the bed. The blue coat lady dropped by around that point. As soon as Vanya rested her head on Klaus' shoulder, the image around Klaus fuzzed the same time it blurred on the blue coat lady. Once it normalized, Klaus blinked and rested his head on top of Vanya's, drifting to sleep soon after. The blue coat lady left in all her glorious bafflement.

"Play that again," Diego demanded, the cogs in his brain turning. His eyes bounced between the screens as it played through once more. Once it finished, he turned to look at Five who returned the look with a raised, expectant brow. "Did he just…"

"Mind-whammy a woman into bringing us a bunch of children's cereals?" Five gave the screen another contemplative look. "I do believe that to be the case."

Diego would've laughed if he wasn't so mystified. It was just like Klaus to discover some new dark level of his power only to use if to purchase a sugary treat for the family...all on someone else's dime. He shook his head. "Do you think he knows?"

"You mean do I think it's possible Klaus _subconsciously _possessed a woman because he was hungry for Cap'n Crunch?"

Diego didn't respond, realizing once it had been verbalized how stupid it really sounded. Then again...it was Klaus.

Five's gaze narrowed at the screen's as his head tilted in contemplative thought. "I don't know," he answered honestly with a sigh. "I think it's best to just watch him for now. If he _doesn't _know, we'll only freak him out by telling him."

"And if he does know, he'll tell us when he's ready," Diego nodded along with a sigh of his own.

"Exactly."

...tbc


	2. Chapter 2

Authors Note: Yeah, that didnt last long. Couldn't wait another week to post the next chapter so here you go! Also - before there's any misunderstandings, this is not a MarySue fic nor is the red head a romantic interest in case that's a drawback. Thanks for reading!

**Chapter 2**

"Okay," Ben clapped his hands and turned to Vanya who stood at the opposite end of the main lounge looking apprehensive. He went to the other side of the table and smiled encouragingly. "We'll start out small," he gestured to the line of glasses along the table. "We already know what you can do on a big scale," he said almost apologetically to which Vanya just nodded, considering the source who always had good intentions.

"What we need to figure out though, is what you can do on a small scale. Knowing the full spectrum of what you can do gives you a better idea of how much of your power to apply to achieve the desired result."

The lounge was silent for a moment as Vanya shifted uncomfortably nervous, rubbing her hands on her pants.

"I thought this was Vayna training 101?" Klaus whined from where he leaned against the fireplace just behind Vanya, a pair of giant, shiny brass cymbals in each hand. "Sounds more like the second nanny and she was a _biiiitch_. I still have a scar on my ass from her."

"Seriously?" Allison asked with honest surprise from where she sat on the couch, phone in hand and a bluetooth speaker in front of her on the coffee table.

"It was a misunderstanding."

"You set her wig on fire," Ben reminded with the patience of an old married couple.

"She wasn't _wearing_ it at the time," Klaus defended.

Ben smirked and nodded at Allison who hit a button on her phone and suddenly the room filled with violin music. He stood off to the side and then turned back to Vayna. "When you're ready," he encouraged softly.

Vanya closed her eyes and nodded and breathed slowly in and out of her nose, listening to the violin, letting it fill her head, vibrate along her nerves and illuminate her synapses. She opened her eyes to look at the first glass and it immediately shattered into tiny shards. She squeezed her eyes close again.

"It's okay, just dial it back a bit. Remember, you just want to _move_ the glass. Just an inch," Ben instructed calmly.

Vanya nodded, letting the music fill her again. She let it thread through her but then she imagined herself gripping the thread, feeling it vibrate in her hands. She opened her eyes and focused on the next glass. She imagined her hands on the thread and giving it a small pinch as she stared at the glass.

The glass wobbled backward a smidge before settling. Vanya released a pleased breath and smiled at Ben who looked back equally pleased. The smile slowly vanished though as Vanya suddenly recognized the next song coming from the speaker. She frowned and suddenly her eyes went white and all the glasses on the table exploded in tiny shards.

A pair of cymbals smashed loudly next to her head and she cried out, the link to her power crudely disconnected. Ben was there in a heartbeat, helping her up as Allison stopped the music.

"You okay?"

She nodded, ashamed but more worried about the other occupants in the room as she quickly took a head count. "I'm so Sorry."

"It's okay," Ben gently guided her to the couch next to Allison who rubbed her back. "It's training. We're bound to hit bumps like this."

"I just," Vanya leaned forward and covered her face, "I'm terrified I'm going to hurt one of us."

"We're family," Klaus dismissed as he dumped the cymbals on a chair before dropping onto the table in front of the couch. "We hurt each other all the time."

Ben snorted and shook his head; as dysfunctional and destructive as his brother was at times, he had a knack for simplifying the intricate. "Do you know what triggered it?"

Vanya sighed into her hands that still covered her face. Finally she nodded and sat back. "When the music changed."

Allison frowned and picked up her phone, scrolling through the YouTube playlist to the last song that had played. "This song?" she showed her the video title.

Vanya barely glanced at the phone before looking away with a small nod.

"Hey," Allison squeezed her arm, "talk to us. Full disclosure, remember?"

Vanya sighed again and took Allison's phone in hand. She pulled up the video again as Klaus curiously walked around to lean over the back of the couch as they all huddled in to watch. Vanya pointed to the portly violinist in the video that was obviously in his bedroom. "His name's Ronald McDuffy," she explained. "He joined our troupe a couple months ago- well...I mean, you know, back then, but now." They all gave quick nods of understanding; time travel was complicated.

"Anyways," she played the video again and grimaced. "I wrote that piece. But I accidentally left my folder with the music sheets at the concert hall one night and he must've found it."

There was a collective round of gasps, murmurs and comments as the newly informed siblings all responded in their own way.

"What are you guys doing?" Luther asked from the second floor balcony, pausing as he took in the shattered glass everywhere.

"Ronald Mc-twat-waffle stole Vanya's shit," Klaus explained loudly, the injustice clear in his voice as he pointed to the phone still in his sisters hand like a child tattling on another and expecting an adult to deliver swift punishment.

Luther opened his mouth, paused, thought better of it and simply headed for the stairs.

"I can't believe this," Allison took her phone back, scrolling through the page. "He has over four-hundred thousand views," she complained.

"I'm sorry," Ben offered despite it sounding cheap to his own ears. "You deserve better."

"I really don't," Vanya said sadly but then turned a small smile toward him. "But thanks."

"So what's going on?" Luther entered from the side making his way behind the couch next to Four.

"Oh you know, just your typical citizen reaching an all new low," Klaus announced casually as he headed backward and reached over the bar, his arm searching beneath the lip for a bottle.

"Klaus," Ben warned knowingly.

Said brother's shoulders dropped with a sigh before he stopped his alcohol search and growled dropping his head to the bar, hands tapping a chaotic rhythm against it.

"A fellow violinist stole Vanya's work and claimed it as his own on YouTube and now it's gone viral," Allison explained sourly.

Luther frowned deeply, "Can he do that?"

"Well," Allison said patiently, "he did. So I'd say yeah, he got away with it."

"But can't you prove it's yours?"

Vanya smiled a bit, however much blame she still held toward Luther, she knew he was still her brother and cared deeply, even if he was sometimes a bit slow on the uptake. "I hand wrote the piece on sheet music. Anyone could've claimed it."

"I'm so sorry Vanya," Allison rubbed her back again.

"If it's any consolation," Klaus whirled around with a finger in the air, "this really old guy named LeClair who used to be a composer of some kind found it to be riveting." He chuckled a bit manically as he walked over, kissed the top of Vanya's head and then headed out. At the lounge's entrance he held his arms out and growled, '_happy?'_ across the room.

The remaining siblings stared at the offensive spot across the room before exchanging questioning glances; Ben being the only one that simply smirked and shook his head.

"Are we just constantly surrounded by dead people or does he attract them?" Luther asked offhandedly with a small smirk.

Ben grinned as he drew in a deep breath and pushed up from the couch. "Yes." he answered simply and then followed his brother out.

He caught up with him on the stairs, "Hey, wait up. Whatcha doin?"

Klaus paused only moment before resuming his upward march. "Raiding Allison's closet."

Ben snorted. "Eventually she's just going to put a lock on it."

"You don't have to do this Ben."

Ben halted, looking down at Klaus who'd stopped on the stair below him and was looking at him with a very serious and weary expression. "Do what?"

"This," Klaus gestured between them. "Following me around everywhere." And as if to prove his point, he started his trek up the stairs once more. "You're flesh and blood again, go...be you. Do all the things you couldn't when you were a ghostie."

Ben stood frozen on the stair before his brain computed beyond the initial emotional response. "Are you pissed at me?"

Klaus turned at that, immediately apologetic. "No, nonono," he marched back toward Ben dropping his hands on his shoulders. He sighed with a deep frown. "You're not tethered to me anymore, Ben. I'm clean, I'm good...just...go _live_."

Ben frowned back and then his eyes narrowed he tilted his head. "Are you white fang'ing me?"

Klaus sighed tiredly, "I don't know what that means."

"Yes, you do. The book I made you read when you were in rehab the second go around. You're shaking a stick at me."

Klaus' moss-green gaze bounced around the stairwell for a confused moment before he met his brother's eyes once more. "Yes," he responded simply and resumed his march up the stairs.

Ben watched him disappear around the corner. He couldn't erase the worry he'd felt tickling his inner-alarm system since Five had brought them home. Klaus had never been okay, not since his power had first manifested and their father had arranged special training for him. They'd all had special training that had left scars. Klaus' though had never scarred over, he just kept bleeding, unable to escape, unable to heal. Ben feared the day he bled out entirely.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Dinner for the Hargreeves children used to be a habitual gathering in the dining room where they waited to sit once the head of the family inspected them, approved and then allowed them to sit and eat in silence while they listened to instructional news or education.

Now they ate at the communal lounge table in the basement. It had always been _their _area in a ways. Their father rarely visited it unless passing through. It had always been a place of mischief and stolen snacks, of card games, word puzzles and ghost stories - or real stories retold in Klaus' case.

Grace had absorbed the change with the very meaning of her name; barely even batted an eye or twitched a circuit. As always, the table would be set and full of food by 5:30 p.m. As voted upon by siblings however, Pogo was now made to join the table and took the honor of head of the table. It had been awkward for Vanya the first couple weeks, but eventually, with much encouragement and reminder from her siblings, she was able to somewhat look Pogo in the eye without heaping bags of guilt or tears.

Family meals were now full of conversation, joking, news, and sarcasm. Grace was even made to join them at the table; she didn't eat food per say, but she absorbed so much more. And there was always room made for another guest should Eudora show up.

"All I'm saying," Luther interjected as he mixed his steak tips into his mashed potatoes, "is that they seemed pretty set on the Apocalypse happening. Now that it hasn't...I think it bears asking the question of why."

"Why what?" Diego asked around a mouthful of asparagus.

"Why did they want the human race to end," Five supplied as he dipped a piece of steak into his coffee mug before consuming.

Diego's brow smoothed out as he watched him. "That's not okay," he pointed out. "You seriously have caffeine issues we need to address at some point."

Five made a point of taking a big sip from his coffee mug next, staring Diego in the eye as he did so.

"That's disgusting."

"So is your brain chemistry," Five responded.

Allison excused herself as her phone rang; she stepped off toward the gaming area and answered. "Hello? Hey baby, are you okay?" The siblings, despite giving her space instinctively quieted. "You did? I'm so proud of you. Absolutely- hello?"

Suddenly Allison's shoulder's tensed up and they knew who had taken over the conversation without even asking. "It's fine, she was just telling me...no Pat- she called _me_. What am I supposed to do? Ignore when my daughter is calling me? Are you kidding me? Hello?"

They all heard the frustrated sigh and focused breathing through their sister's nose as she took a moment. They didn't even bother trying to resume conversation though, just simply ate until she returned to her seat and even then they all just ate in contemplative silence, their silverware clinking against their plates.

"Fuck Patrick," Klaus suddenly exclaimed.

Allison looked up from her food, met his gaze and couldn't help the smallest of smiles that twitched at her lips.

"For real," Diego nodded, "fuck Patrick."

Luther smirked and lifted his glass of milk, looking around at his siblings. "Fuck Patrick."

The momentary surprise of their precious number one cursing in such a manner at the dinner table was quickly overtaken by raised glasses and grins joining in with the toast, even Pogo who didn't say the actual words but nodded along and Grace who _did_ actually say the words but clearly didn't understanding the meaning behind it which precluded a squinted look from Diego.

"I can, you know," Klaus offered, glass of ginger ale still held up. "If it'd help."

Allison snorted sadly. "Thanks but...I don't think a gay sex scandal would really help at this point."

"I could take care of it," Five offered.

"Guys," Allison paused with a forkful of potatoes, "I love you, but I really don't think killing Claire's dad is what's best for her."

Klaus shrugged. "Worked for _us,_" he muttered before jerking suddenly with a cringe and glaring at Ben who gave him a pointed look. "What?"

"You guys have done a couple jobs for the police lately," Vanya offered, "maybe they'll reconsider your case?"

Allison shook her head, staring at her plate. "No judge will come close to touching it for at least two years. I thought being famous would help but...instead they avoid it like the plague. No one wants their dirt dug into and spread across social media."

"I'm sorry," Vanya offered to which Allison nodded.

It was Pogo that raised his glass. "In two years then."

The siblings smiled and raised their glasses once more.

_In two years_.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Two years, however, turned into two weeks instead. Luther and Vanya both sat on either side of Allison on the couch with Ben and Klaus leaning over the couch and Pogo in a lounge chair as they all watched the breaking local news.

_...ex-husband to Allison Hargreeves of the Umbrella Academy was just convicted of the misdemeanor of public urination but has also been listed as a sex offender when he was found to be completely naked during his arrest. The father, who previously had sole custody of their daughter, Claire, has been ruled unfit for the time being until his six month jail sentence has been served at which time custody will be revisited by the judicial system._

All eyes were wide and jaws dropped as they watched actual footage of Patrick standing buck naked in front of a bar, ripping the rainbow flag from doorway and then pissing all over it and the bar's window where patrons inside had their phones out, filming.

_Local citizens are calling it a hate crime, but the accused's attorney's have announced an official statement that the offender was simply drunk. _

The video displayed more footage above the announcer of Patrick pressing up against the bar's window and looking directly into a patrons phone which the footage switched to Patrick clearly saying _you're all stupid and every gay man in there can suck my _\- the news beeped the last word.

Everyone's mouth was still agape; Ben's brow crinkled as he watched the train wreck. He let his eyes shift toward his brother who also watched the feed with wide eyes but felt Ben's inquiring look and simply tilted his head a bit to hid his face.

_Law enforcement from across state lines have already collaborated and found Allison Hargreeves to have no involvement in the incident whatsoever. As such, custody of their daughter is to be given to the actress for a temporary stint until the court system revisits their divorce case._

The scrolling footage next to the announcers head ended with Patrick running down the street from the police, cackling maniacally.

Luther turned the TV off and the room fell into silence.

"I can't believe it," Allison breathed. "I mean...I'm elated I get Claire back but...she must be so embarrassed. I can't believe he _did _that."

"Yeah, got it," Diego walked into the lounge talking into his cell phone and then disconnected and looked up at his siblings. "That was Patch, a CPS rep is putting Claire on a flight today. She'll pick her up and escort her here."

Allison pressed a hand to her mouth as the suddenness of turning events drudged up long-denied emotions. She looked to Luther with tears welling and falling down her cheeks. Luther smiled and drew her into his chest, as Vanya rubbed her back.

"Should we have homecoming party or something," Klaus asked. "I mean, she hasn't met any of us. Might help ease the transition."

"That's actually a great idea," Vanya agreed. Allison smiled and nodded gratefully, still not trusting herself to be speak without breaking down.

Klaus' hand shot into the air, "Party coordinator!"

Allison's expression suddenly froze and she looked at her brother half-worried, half-apologetic. "Oh Klaus...no."

Klaus' shoulders dropped looking honestly dejected. "What?"

Ben smirked and sighed, resting a hand on his brother's shoulder and looked to Allison assuringly. "I'll go with him."

Allison happily obliged.

...tbc


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Claire had fallen into the family like an essential puzzle piece; with her bubbly persona and sass, she had quickly turned into the house gem. She'd even taken to calling some of them by their nicknames; Space-boy, Krakken and Séance. Aunt Vanya, Uncle Ben and Uncle Five retained their names as did _mom_.

It had almost been laughable at first how all their usual habits and daily schedules had adjusted around the newest addition. She'd been a welcome distraction as the siblings found themselves struggling to adjust to life together once again. They were each looking for purpose and direction while trying to maintain some kind of personal life.

Claire's presence offered a break from the awkward silences, the heavy introspection and the constant sibling bickering. They found themselves at least attempting to appear more civil than they were when she was around. Well, some of them anyways. Mostly everyone _but _Klaus who had developed quite the 'buddy cop' relationship with the six year old. Klaus treated her like a miniature adult most days and she adored his wild and flamboyant nature.

The two had taken to hiding in each other's rooms keeping each other entertained and skulking about the mansion constantly causing mischief. Allison had even caught them in Luther's room once, record playing as they practiced a coordinated dance they'd been brainstorming ever since binge-watching Dancing with the Stars.

Allison had been moderately concerned at first with Claire spending any time at all with Klaus alone without supervision, but after a couple weeks of watching the odd relationship grow...she realized she needn't have worried. In fact, she was actually quite surprised to realize Claire was having a greater effect on Klaus rather than the other way around.

Ben had wisely coined it on the nose one night when she'd been watching them from the second floor balcony while the two miscreants secretly argued over some changes to the dance routine which they'd gone so far as to draw pictures of down below where they sat opposite each other on the coffee table.

"She gets him out of his head," he said softly as he leaned on the rail next to her. "Gives him the distraction he needs."

"Jealous or grateful?" she looked at him out of the corner of her eye with a knowing smile.

Ben snorted softly with a smile. "Both."

"What about you, Ben? Any plans?"

Ben watched the two below as he contemplated the question. He shrugged. "Honestly? I spent the last fifteen years _watching_ my family." He blinked self-consciously. "Right now all I want to do is just _be_ _with_ them." He smirked down at his crossed arms. "Cheesy, right?"

"A little," Allison grinned and then turned soft eyes toward her brother. She rested a hand on the back of his head. "Then again, you always were the best of us."

"Come on," she bumped his shoulder with her own, "before they decide to add glitter cannons to their routine."

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Vanya adjusted her music sheets nervously on the stand while her other hand held tightly to her violin and bow. She stopped suddenly, shoulders slumping. "We don't have to do this right now," she said apologetically to the only other occupant in the dining room.

Klaus, lying on the table with knees bent, one crossed over the other and hands behind his head looked up suddenly. "What are you talking about?"

"I can practice another time," she explained. "I don't want to bore you."

"Are you kidding me?" Klaus asked incredulously. "You're the only one in this house that hasn't threatened me with bodily harm yet. Trust me," he waved hand, "You're doing me a favor. Proceed with the distraction."

"I guess I just...never took you for a classical music type person," she hedged with a small smile.

"I'm more of a Vanya type person." He pushed up onto his elbows. "But don't tell the others, they'll try to box me into something explainable."

"Or turn that into something dirty," Vanya's smile was genuine this time.

Klaus eyes widened with glee. "Incest! Vanya you're a genius. I can already see Luther's face."

Vanya chuckled as she adjusted her bow into her other hand, looking at her sheet music.

Klaus' foot dangled in the air as he tilted his head at her. "What about you?" When she looked at him with a question in her eyes, he lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "Any plans to jump out of the closet?"

Vanya blinked at him, mildly surprised but she supposed she shouldn't have been. She smirked and ducked her head with a shrug of one shoulder. "No one's ever really shown an interest before…"

"Eeew, touchy subject," Klaus drawled lightly but sat up, crossing his legs as he toyed with a fork. "Before Harold Jenkins?"

Vanya nodded, ashamed and embarrassed.

"I've dated a lot of Harold Jenkins," Klaus nodded, introspective. "Some of them were really awful people," his tilted his head with a smile. "But not all of them. Don't ever be afraid of who you are dear sister. Somewhere out there is an amazing woman that can't wait to meet a violinist that loves boring button-ups and ponytails."

Vanya snorted and the room quieted a moment. "Don't tell the others just yet."

"These plucky lips are sealed," Klaus pointed to himself. "Though we should probably come up with a secret word or something in case one of them becomes suspicious, then I'll quickly distract them."

Vanya smiled and pursed her lips to the side, her eyes roaming the dining room walls in thought. Klaus gasped suddenly with jazz hands.

"Skittles and gravy," he announced.

Vanya laughed. "What?"

"It's perfect! They'll never suspect anything," Klaus gushed as he curled forward so he was now laying on his stomach, knees bent with his feet dangling lazily in the air, chin in his hands.

Vanya let the words roll over her mind, realizing just how perfect they actually were; a rainbow of color and tangy fruitiness and the other a classic staple rich in flavor. "Skittles and gravy," Vanya tested the words playfully.

Klaus swiped a hand out, shoving a glass from the table. It shattered loudly on the wooden floor.

"What was that?" Allison's voice called from upstairs.

Klaus smiled brightly at Vanya and held his hands out as if to say 'see, it worked'.

Vanya's cheeks hurt from smiling, her eyes sparkling with humor as she shook her head and settled her violin on her shoulder.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"Hey," Ben casually announced himself as he slipped between the semi-closed door and it's frame. Five and Diego turned toward him, the latter whipping around with caught eyes. Both greeted him rather dismissively, Diego in a nervous manner and Five more so as if interrupted. Ben took in the video feeds with a narrowed expression. "What'cha doing?"

'_Nothing' _was blurted the same time '_watching Klaus'_ was announced rather dully. Diego's shoulders dropped and he turned a betrayed glare to the youngest looking sibling who unashamedly swiveled back toward the monitors.

Ben leaned in over their shoulders. "Find anything?"

"Klaus may have a new ability he's not fully realized," Five said with a tilt of his head.

"At what point were you going to share with the rest of the class?"

"When we had substantial proof to stand on," Five snapped back obviously.

"By any chance is the recent Patrick debacle under suspicion?" Ben asked knowingly.

"Oh yeah," Five snorted and chuckled as he adjusted the feed. Ben closed the door quietly behind him as he focused on the screens.

They played the videos for him which filled in a few holes that Ben had been trying to puzzle together the last couple weeks. He shook his head with a small amazed grin. He couldn't believe his brother's power had evolved to this.

"Kind of terrifying, isn't it? Klaus having the power to mind control?"

Ben squinted at the two monitors where the videos played on a loop. "The old bastard was right," he muttered to himself, recalling Klaus' confession of what their dead father had told him - that he'd only scratched the surface of his potential.

"What's that?" Five narrowed his eyes at him clinically.

Ben stood straight, hand still resting on the back of Diego's chair. "Have you told him yet?"

Diego sighed guiltily, "We were trying to get as much evidence as we could first before freaking him out."

Ben nodded, not entirely disagreeable with the decision. "I'm pretty sure he knows something's up though. He just doesn't know what it is yet."

Footsteps echoed from one of the feeds and they all looked to the one in Four's room just in time to see the brother in question fall onto his bed dramatically, staring at the ceiling, clearly bored. His head lifted suddenly as he looked toward the far corner of his room, listening. Klaus frowned, sighed and then sat up, hands in his lap and announced in a sing-song voice "_I feel like some hard drugs are in order_."

Diego's eyes widened and he moved to make a dash to stop his brother when Ben shoved him back into his chair with a humored smile. "Relax."

Klaus started dramatically searching in nooks and crannies, making a good show when he couldn't find any drugs where he'd thought they might be. "_I wonder if there's any left in this sock? Maybe beneath this rug_?"

"What if we missed one of his stashes?" Diego argued.

"_Maybe behind this poster?_" Klaus peeked behind a poster that was below and to the side of the camera to where he popped in and out of the camera's shot. "_Oh, lookie what I found_," Klaus said excitedly and suddenly his middle finger was filling most of the camera feed.

Five shook his head with clear disappointment while Ben grinned and Diego frowned. "How the hell could he know?" Diego growled.

"Probably tattle-Tess," Ben supplied helpfully. At Diego's questioning frown, he shrugged his shoulders almost guilty and sighed. "Nine year old girl with pigtails. Gunshot wound right here," Ben pointed to his forehead. "Has a disturbing penchant for spilling the beans. Probably what killed her in the end," he muttered the last bit.

"Saw too much," Five nodded grimly.

Diego remained quiet but was clearly disturbed by the idea of a little nine year old ghost telling Klaus all their secrets.

"_Yeah, that's right Diego, everyone knows you like it up the ass,_" Klaus' face was now right in front of the camera cackling.

Diego's lips puckered thinly as he glared darkly at the feed. "How has no one killed him yet?" he muttered to which he got no response. "How long do you think he's known?"

"Judging by his reaction just now?" Ben tilted his head thoughtfully. "I'd say tattle-Tess _just_ clued him in."

Suddenly the window by Klaus' bed exploded inward the same time two of the tv screens cracked and the entire house felt like it had just vibrated within it's very foundation. Ben was already out the door, ignoring his brother's curses as he charged down the stairwell and turned down the hall to find Klaus still crouched and brushing glass from his hair as his head swiveled back and forth, bewildered.

He was standing by the time Ben reached him with a worried question in his eyes. "I don't know," Ben shook his head. "I thought-"

He was cut off by voices downstairs. The two rushed to the main foyer to find Luther, Vanya and Allison with a startled Claire in her arms, standing in a debris field of glass. Ben and Klaus met Diego at the bottom along with Five who appeared next to Vayna.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to, I just...I wasn't expecting it." Vanya apologized, the white fading from her eyes as she gestured toward the ceiling. The large chandelier sat swinging a bit, what little glass remained was in jagged shards and in the middle of the iron masterpiece lay a body.

"Is that…"

"Yes, it is," Five grimly affirmed, well acquainted with the body armor the figure was sporting. Mostly black but with the tell-tale red gas masks with glowing eyes.

"Oh, you guys can see him?" Klaus chuckled, delighted..

"How the hell did he get up there?" Luther awed.

"Is he dead?" Claire's small voice asked warily. To everyone's horror the head suddenly parted from the body and fell to the floor with a sickening thud. "That's disgusting."

Five knelt down next to the head and picked it up, inspecting it with his usual clinical glare.

"Do you think there's more?" Luther's head swiveled back and forth.

"Maybe, although I doubt it." Five tinkered with the mask's eye piece. "You should check the house all the same."

Diego was the first to move, heading down to the basement, Luther took the floor they were on while Ben and Klaus searched the upper levels. Five had been correct, the house was just as it always was sans a few shattered windows, with no clues as to how the body had gotten there in the first place. By all rights, it looked like it had simply dropped out of the air onto the chandelier. It was by no means the weirdest thing they'd dealt with and for one of them it was a welcome mystery to be solved.

Five practically dissected the head searching for clues while the rest of the siblings remained on high alert; none of them appreciated the idea of another home invasion by the Temps Commission. Diego especially seemed to be sticking particularly close to Klaus who welcomed the extra attention as an excuse to find new and unusual ways of getting a rise out of his brother. Ben had watched from the sidelines, thoroughly enjoying the free entertainment.

It was one afternoon in particular, Diego was yelling at Klaus for sewing his initials in every single pair of his underwear when Luther trudged in holding his phone up.

"That was Eudora," he announced pointedly. "Said she's been trying your phone for the last twenty minutes."

Diego's forehead smoothed out as he turned an accusatory glare toward Klaus who stared back with wide, innocent eyes. "I didn't touch your phone."

"Doesn't matter, there's a situation in the business district" Luther interjected, pointing at them. "We head out in two minutes. Klaus, take off Diego's underwear," he added as he headed downstairs.

Klaus grumbled as he shimmied out of his brother's tighty-whities he'd lovingly knitted DH along the front of and had pulled over his favorite black leather pants to show off.

Diego cuffed him over the head as he followed him out, threatening him with bodily harm if he'd ruined all his underwear. They'd all piled into the van and headed to the business district where multiple office buildings had been evacuated and cordoned off by police, fire and EMS. Patch, their officially assigned liaison with local police, met them at the boundary line where crowds had gathered along with news vans.

"The suspect is inside; an employee of an equity loan company" she listed off facts as she weaved them through the empty alleyways and parking garages. "There's a few unaccounted for employees they think might be held hostage at this time but that's unconfirmed. Chief didn't want us moving in until we had something more solid." She glanced back at them pointedly. "I suggested the UA when more than a couple of the witnesses stated the suspect was shooting flames from his hands."

Luther frowned as they stopped beside a shorter, square building. "You think it's someone like us? One of the 43?"

Patch shrugged. "Like I said, it's all circumspect right now. But because of the recent shooting in Vegas, everyone's on high alert." She pointed around them. "You've got an unusually large evacuation border due to the suspected nature of our guy - about four blocks or more so do me a favor and try to keep it contained. We're trying to keep the social media to a minimum on this one."

"Got it," Diego traded respective nods with her before she headed back. He turned to Luther, "What's the plan?"

Luther was peering around the corner of the building, across the parking lot toward another two story building where their suspect was last seen. "Diego, Allison and I will go in through the front, try and draw his attention. Five, Vanya and Ben, you guys head around and find a back entrance. Hostages comes first; then, if he's willing, we'll try talking him down."

"What about me?" Klaus raised a hand.

"We need you to stay here and direct the hostages back toward the police line."

Klaus' shoulders dropped, he couldn't believe this was happening again. "Seriously? Five can micro-jump them to the ambulances in like half a second."

"That's true," Five nodded. "Probably safer that way too."

"Okay fine," Luther swiped a hand in the air, "but we need someone to make sure no one else goes in or out. We need you to watch our back."

Klaus made an unimpressed face. "I'm the _lookout_ again?"

Luther patted him on the shoulders. "You did such a good job of it last time," he assured before one by one they scurried across the parking lot throwing Klaus apologetic glances.

"Don't overthink it," Ben gently warned with a pointed look, the last one to depart. "They'll come around eventually."

"Whatever," Klaus grumbled, "you're just happy you get to air out the tentacles for once."

"I'm serious, Klaus," Ben stressed as Five called after him.

"I know, I know," Klaus ushered him on. "Go. Roast marshmallows without me."

Klaus watched all the siblings disappear in and around the office building. He sighed loudly, shoulders slumped, hands wrapped around his neck with elbows touching. He paced in a lackadaisical circle, his leg swinging out kicking at broken pavement. Movement caught his eye in his peripheral and he paused to watch a young teen stroll through the alleyway, walking toward the office building.

Klaus held up a finger, his mouth open to call out to the teen as he passed him but his jaw clicked shut with sudden realization as he saw the back of the teen's head which was basically a gaping hole of bone and brain matter. When the teen glanced back at him, Klaus ran his hand through his hair, casually looking away.

When the ghost had passed into the shadow of another alleyway, Klaus sighed and leaned back against the brick wall of the building he stood beside, bouncing his head against it as he quietly mumbled the alphabet song to himself. He could hear sounds of unfamiliar screams inside the building across the lot and knew his siblings had found the hostages and likely the flamer suspect.

He pushed off from the wall and peeked around the corner only come face to face with a plump, smiling face with rosy cheeks and bobbed red hair.

"Genghis wenis!" Klaus cried out as he startled backward, tripping over his own feet onto the pavement. He cautiously leaned to the side to see around the corner again and sure enough, the woman was still there, smiling at him. "Sorry," Klaus dusted his hands on his shirt as he pushed to his feet. "Are you...one of the hostages?" his head swiveled around, looking for other people that might've also escaped.

"Not this time." The woman's voice was vibrant; far too perky for someone that had just fled from a life-threatening situation.

Klaus blinked at her, his eyes giving her a once over; no visible signs of death so likely not a spirit. "You really shouldn't...be here. There's like- a thing going on."

"I love things!" she giggle with a toothy smile.

"Wait, wait, wait," Klaus held up a hand. "I know you," he took a step closer and blinked. He felt his mouth fall open a bit as random flashes of memory tickled at his brain. "I've seen you...you were on the bus." She smiled pleasantly and feigned adjusting a hat that wasn't on her head. "And at that club the night I died."

"Oh that was a fun night," she chuckled heartily, hand pressed to her belly. "Also at your first public appearance when you thwarted that bank heist."

"Oh my god- you're Kenny's mom!" Klaus' fingers pressed against his lips. "How are you _here_?" he whispered.

"Oh, I'm always around, watching," she brushed away his concern with such bubbly casualness, as if it were a completely normal situation.

"That's not at all creepy. Are you like an Academy groupie or something?"

"Oh, just you sweetie."

"What...why?"

At this, the woman's chipper persona slipped, revealing an altogether sinister hunger and desire behind the brown eyes. "You fascinate me. I mean look at you," her belly bunched as she laughed, "is he dead? Is he alive? Who knows?"

"Who _are_ you?" he whispered, unable to push his voice beyond the growing concern spreading through his gut.

"Oh, you adorable little creature," her red cheeks bunched her eyes as she smiled and leaned into his space, causing him to press against the brick wall behind him. "The real question is who are _you_, number Four?"

Suddenly there was a scream and a portion of the building suddenly went up in a fireball. The red-headed woman stepped to the side and watched him with almost gleeful anticipation. Klaus watched with wide eyes as Luther helped Diego and Allison through the building's front door, smoke pouring out around them. Suddenly Vanya appeared around the corner of the building dragging an unconscious Five behind her.

Klaus didn't have to count to know one very important member was most definitely missing among them. His breath caught in his throat as he heard Luther ask where Ben was only for Vanya to hoarsely cry out he was still inside.

Klaus' gut clenched as it turned to ice, shooting through his veins, he could barely breathe in his panic. He vaguely heard Allison yell at Luther not to go back, that it was too late. _No, no, no_, he whispered in denial before his eyes slipped closed and his hands balled into fists.

Suddenly he was surrounded by a suffocating heat. He blinked his eyes open and saw flames, everywhere he turned his head, fire hungrily licked and consumed. Klaus coughed and hacked, bringing his arm up to his mouth as he quickly rolled over and looked for an exit through watery eyes.

There, along the side of the building was a side office with a large window. The ceiling suddenly creaked loudly and shifted. Klaus scrambled to his feet and made a mad dash for the office window, jumping into a ball as he smashed through it and hit the ground at a roll, a plume of fire exploding over his head as the ceiling collapsed. He coughed and hacked and pushed to his hands and knees, looking around for his siblings. As he looked up, he could see a familiar short, plump, red-haired woman standing next to...himself.

It was as weird as he imagined it would be, seeing his body standing there, face completely devoid of any expression, looking as if a gentle breeze would knock him over. Then Kenny's mom, or whoever she was, smiled brightly and with a single finger tapped him on the chest.

That's when shit got weird.

...tbc


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

One moment Ben was being thrown across the building and in the next, he was knelt on the pavement outside, staring at a plump, red-headed woman pulling her finger back with a Cheshire grin. Ben blinked, realizing it was his brother who'd been facing her. And if things weren't confusing enough as was, Klaus suddenly stumbled back into the wall of the building they stood next to with a confused, pained scrunch to his face, holding a hand to his chest before slowly sliding to the ground, half-sat, half-slumped.

Whatever confusion had permeated everything went by the wayside as Ben scrambled to his feet, sprinting toward them with his brother's name on his lips. He saw the red-headed woman look at him briefly, smile cheekily before waving and disappearing much like Five always did. Ben thought he could hear his siblings voices calling his name as he ran past the side of the burning building; he couldn't be bothered though, the seizing in his chest wouldn't let him.

"Klaus!" He skid to a stop on his knees next to the slumped form who was completely unresponsive. Ben shook his brother's shoulders but his head only slumped to the side. "Klaus!," he tried again.

And suddenly Diego was there shoving him out of the way as he pulled Klaus away from the wall and laid him flat. He checked for a pulse and breathing and then leaned back, satisfied with what he'd found.

"He's okay, just out. What happened?" he asked, out of breath.

"I don't know," Ben finally let go of the panic and fell onto his butt as the adrenaline rush made him light-headed and shaky all over.

"We thought you were still inside, you were pretty close to the explosion when it went off," Luther placed a hand on his shoulder, voice heavy with guilt at nearly losing their brother once again. "How did you get out?"

Ben shook his head, letting it drop beneath his bent knees as he started to feel the aches and surface burns along his skin. "I have no idea," he said, swallowing down some rising nausea.

"We need to regroup," Luther crouched and easily lifted Four's limp body into his large arms and started heading toward their self-appointed van. Diego scooped Five up from Vanya's lap while she and Allison both assisted Ben to the van.

They pulled out just as police and fire showed up to take over; Diego already on the phone with Eudora, updating her on the incident and the body that would likely be found once the fire was extinguished. The ride back to the mansion was quiet otherwise, the siblings each in their own haze of confusion and still in shock from the close call that nearly cost them a sibling once again.

Pogo met them at the back door and ushered them left and right; Grace handling any type of medical care under Pogo's keen eye and guidance. Eventually Pogo reported to One, Two, Three and Seven, who had gathered around the lounge area on the main floor.

"Master Ben is resting in his own room with some minor burns and will likely be sore for a few days. Master Five is also resting in his bedroom with a minor concussion."

"Thank god," Vanya breathed, she'd freaked out when she'd first seen all the blood from Five's head wound following the explosion.

"What about Klaus?" Diego piped up.

Pogo leaned forward on his cane with pursed lips and a deep sigh. "Master Klaus is resting comfortably in the infirmary under your mother's watchful eye."

Allison frowned, "What's wrong with him?"

"We don't know," Pogo said simply. "He has no injuries and imaging is fine."

Diego's eyes rolled to the ceiling as he tossed a thought around his tongue. "Did you check blood work?" he asked with a low voice.

Pogo sent him a short, soft smile, "He's clean."

Diego's eyes slipped closed and he nodded, running a hand over his head. He hated that his brother had put them in a position of not being able to trust him when it came to his coping mechanisms.

"Ben said he saw a woman standing next to Klaus before he passed out," Allison offered and then looked to her brother's. "Do you think maybe she did something to him?"

Luther shrugged and shook his head. "I'd say the only person that can answer that question...is Klaus."

**xxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Fresh pine mingled with rotting wood drifted on the cold air. It was the first thing he'd remember before blinking his eyes awake to a see enormously tall trees stretching high into the haze above. His breath appeared as small white clouds that dissipated slowly in the cold air. He turned his head, taking in more of the gray forest that surrounded him. A dense fog rested heavy among the life-less trees offering the only light amidst the dark forest.

Klaus wasn't unfamiliar with waking up in strange places, he'd even woken up in what he assumed was heaven and hell a time or two. No matter where he woke up, he always seemed an unwelcome guest that was promptly run off; even in the drug houses which was saying something if you weren't welcomed among the muck and mire.

Klaus pushed to his feet, turning in circles and getting the distinct feeling he wasn't in Kansas anymore. The cold bit at his bare skin and he kept having a weird sensation ripple through him, as if his insides were floating about, looking for an escape. It was altogether unsettling.

He wrapped his arms across his chest, tucking his fingers in and started a slow trek through the forest. The last thing he remembered was crashing through a window and looking up to see himself and the red-headed woman across the lot. He had a nagging feeling his siblings hadn't joined him in whatever trip he'd taken to arrive here, so he didn't even bother trying to call out to them. He was worried about Ben, if he'd made it out okay.

And he'd seen more than his fair share of horror flicks, thanks to a week long bender in a tiny storage room of an eclectic horror shop; if he'd learned anything, it was that you never, ever, ever called out when you were alone; it always ended poorly for the lonely victim.

The fog didn't clear and there wasn't anything nearing a breeze that would shift the smoke-like haze around, which meant even if he could creep around like a native american on the forest floor, he'd still leave a visual imprint as the fog folded around him.

The longer he wandered, the more prominent the feeling of _unnatural_ permeated his every cell. He tripped over a branch hidden beneath the fog and found himself stumbling into a weird bubble where the temperature was dramatically warmer which seemed to keep the fog at bay. He was delighted for all of two seconds before he brushed his pants off and swiveled around.

A structure made entirely of thick branches from the surrounding gray trees weaved in and around in a jagged circular ring with sharp spikes jutting out on all ends. The spine-chilling effigy stood about three stories tall and the wood looked to be smeared with a dark, wine-colored substance.

He knew he shouldn't, but his curiosity overrode any sense of self preservation his instincts might've been screaming at him, and he soon found himself within arms reach of the effigy, squinting at the dark, eggplant colored smears. And no, it didn't look like human blood, but yes, it absolutely looked like the blood of something...or _somethings._

His internal alarms sounded much louder now causing goosebumps to prickle across his skin, which again, for someone who sees the dead all the time, he knew his gut wasn't messing around as fear spread through his veins like ice. It was then he took notice of the thick fog off to his left; it was swirling in on itself like a swell in an ocean wave. A large bipedal shadow started to take form amidst the fog.

Klaus stumbled over his own feet as he scrambled around the creepy blair witch sculpture and practically fell into a crouch behind it, pushing between sharp, thick branches to try and make himself small and hidden. He peeked through small gaps in the woven branches to see the shadow pushing through the fog into the clearing. Klaus felt his stomach curl in on itself.

The creature was huge, twenty feet tall, large strands of exposed dark muscle and tendons weaving in and out making up the bulk of the body and limbs but leaving small gaps much like the effigy Klaus was hiding behind. The torso of the creature seemed to pulsate with a dark, purple-black glow that spread out like veins. Klaus shifted to another gap between branches to better see the head which was also made up of the same muscle and tendons woven in a thick bulk with black pits for eyes, no visible nose or mouth.

The giant walked right up to the formation and paused. Klaus pressed a hand against his mouth as the monster ran a sharp talon across it's dark palm and then slowly ran it along one of the many branches leaving a trail of dark purple. Klaus jerked with surprise as a sharp vibration coursed along the wood and suddenly the space within the middle of the circle filled with a swirling, inky darkness with a fiery glow along the outer ring.

The creature made to step through the center of the ring when suddenly another creature leapt through from the other side and crashed into it. There was no hesitation, the two creatures made horrific screeching noises as they fought and slashed at each other with their long talons.

Klaus couldn't keep his feet as the ground quaked with their full body slams and he found himself crying out as he nearly impaled his face on a wood spike. He stumbled backward as a foot from one of the creatures nearly stomped on him; Klaus, arms pinwheeling, tripped over one of the branches and fell into the circle of swirling darkness.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Klaus' eyes flew open, blinking quickly to try and clear his focus. He recognized the intricately punched tin ceiling tiles that meant he was lying in the Hargreeves infirmary. A face popped into his view suddenly and he drew back a bit with a frown.

"Welcome back." Ben smiled down at him, a couple of healing scratches scattered across his face and neck.

Klaus blinked at him again; uncertain how to respond, he chose instead take a good look around the room, pushing himself up so he was sitting. Ben adjusted the back of the bed so it supported him a bit more, but watched him a bit closer as his smile turned into concern.

"What happened," Klaus asked softly, squinting as he pressed a hand to his head.

"Actually we were hoping you could _tell us_." Ben reached out of his view and returned with a glass of water and some white pills which Klaus eyes suspiciously. "Aspirin."

Klaus shook his head and waved the pills away. He slid off the opposite side of the table and paused, making sure he wasn't about to fall over before he slowly made his way toward the door.

"Klaus?"

Said brother paused and looked back at Ben's now very concerned frown. He raised his brow in question and waited.

"What's going on?"

Klaus blinked and ran a hand over his face. "I don't know what happened, you clearly have no idea. What more do you want from me?"

"I want to know what's going on in that head of yours," Ben said, a bit more annoyed as he moved closer.

"Well," he said loftily, "when you figure it out, let me know."

Ben stubbornly followed him as he made his way toward the back stairwell. "Klaus, you've been out for two days. We need to talk."

"About what?" Klaus whined as he trudged up the steps.

Ben grabbed his arm, forcing him to stop and face him. He hesitated a moment, debating internally before he grimaced and pulled Klaus after him. "There's something you need to see."

Twenty minutes later Klaus had seen all the footage his brother's had collected of his supposed blackouts. He was certain most people would've reacted poorly to finding out they were being monitored and their every action recorded; fortunately he wasn't _most people_...he was the black sheep screw up that was so used to being under constant judgement and scrutiny, he couldn't even comprehend what normal human interaction looked like.

Instead he sat staring dumbly at the screens, minutes after Ben had shut them off. Ben watched him warily, trying to give Klaus time to process but also worrying he'd broken his brother's already fragile state of mind.

"We should've told you," Ben dropped his gaze. "We never should've kept it from you."

"Why did you," Klaus asked without emotion and without turning from the blank screens.

"To be honest?" Ben sighed, "We weren't really sure what we were dealing with. Didn't think it would be a good idea to put one more stressor on you without something more finite."

"So…" Klaus blinked, "I can control people?"

"Looks like it," Ben nodded, paused and then shook his head. "But at what expense?"

"What do you mean?" Klaus finally looked at him with a small frown.

Ben sighed and leaned an elbow against the desk. "Haven't you noticed there always seems to be a downside to our powers? Every single one of us."

Klaus' face scrunched. "Weren't you the one that kept spouting something about great power and great responsibility or some shit?"

"Close, and I appreciate the effort, but seriously; it's like every time we think we're getting a handle on our power, it evolves or throws us into some kind of chaos."

"I don't know," Klaus' head tilted, "Mind control sounds pretty awesome. Might actually make me useful to the academy for once."

"You saw the same video I was watching, right?" Ben asked skeptically. When Klaus turned an unimpressed look toward him he huffed. "Klaus, you go catatonic when you mind-whammy people, like you're not even there." And suddenly Ben's brow smoothed out and he sat back a bit. "You're not there," he whispered, his dark eyes bouncing between the blank screens.

Klaus narrowed his gaze at him a moment before he grimaced. "You think I'm spirit hopping, don't you?"

"It would make sense," Ben nodded. "I mean, that _is_ your thing, dealing with spirits."

"Define _dealing_."

"What if, when you're possessing someone, you're literally shoving your own spirit or soul into the body?"

"Wait-wait-wait," Klaus waved his hand and leaned forward. "Are you saying, all this time, I could've been living in David Bowie's body?"

"When we were at the office building," Ben ignored him, "the last thing I remember was the building exploding. Next thing I knew I was on my hands and knees outside, staring at you next to some woman. For a split second, you looked just like you did in those videos," he pointed at the screens.

Klaus blinked dully. "You think I possessed you to help you escape a fiery chasm?"

"Is it really such a stretch?"

Klaus scrunched his face again, "What woman?"

Ben shrugged, "I don't know; red hair, plump." It was Ben's turn to scrunch his face. "I can't help but feel like I've seen her before, but I can't place it."

Klaus sat back with a faraway glaze to his eyes.

"Either way," Ben's head tilted, "whatever she did, it severed the connection or whatever you want to call it."

"What happened to her?" Klaus asked, voice still distant.

He shrugged again for lack of a better response. "Disappeared...almost like Five but less dramatic."

A soft knock on the door drew their attention. "Welcome back, princess" Diego nudged Klaus. "There's something you should see," he announced with grim eyes and pursed lips. They followed him downstairs to the main lounge room where the others already sat huddled around a laptop that Vanya sat in front of.

"How are you feeling, Klaus?" Allison's brow wrinkled with concern, surprised to see him up.

Klaus stared back at them with a shadowed frown. His lack of response sent a ripple of anxiety through the gathered siblings, the already somewhat tense room dropping into outright disturbed. Klaus always had a response, no matter the situation and whether relevant or not to the situation at hand, a response was always on the other side of their brother's lips. It was like a universal law or something. To have it broken shook them deeply in ways they weren't sure was entirely pleasant.

"He's fine, just wore out," Ben offered and tugged on his brother's arm, guiding him behind the couch. The other's had varying looks of acceptance but trusted Ben's reasoning for now.

Luther looked to the shorter sister who sat in the middle of the couch. "What did you want to show us?"

"It's a new museum display at the Gallery," she started. "My troupe's supposed to play at the grand reveal so they let us get a quick peek at some of the items while we rehearsed." She pulled up a string of pictures. "I snapped a few pictures real quick before they caught on."

They all leaned in to see a couple pictures of the museum's displayed items carefully situated for optimum viewing. In one picture sat a plain looking, boxy briefcase, like the old fashioned ones used to carry medicines or hats. It looked old too, weathered and with burnt edges, the clasps clearly broken and askew.

The next picture was an old brass canister that looked like something out of a steampunk novel or bank vault. It was opened with the lid resting next to it and a small piece of paper preserved on a glass display above it that read simply '_ABANDON ALL HOPE_'.

The last picture was the one that really caused goosebumps to ripple through the siblings. It was a round, pink puppy mask with large, soulless eye, splattered with dried blood, one ear partially burnt and also well weathered.

"Where the hell did they get these?" Diego leaned over the back of the couch next to Klaus.

"They're calling it The Day of Wrath," Vanya explained as she pulled up a Wikipedia page with the same title. "Apparently, sometime around the 1500's there's records by explorers and locals describing an event that occurred in Ethiopia. Locals called it...I can't pronounce it," she pointed at the words on the screen, "but essentially it translates to _the day we angered the gods_. A Portuguese explorer, Vasco Corte-real recounts the event as _the day bodies rained from the heavens_."

Vanya sat back and shared an apprehensive look with Allison who sat next to her. "No one really knows what happened exactly, but the items in the museum were found in Ethiopia and dated to around the time of the event."

All eyes turned to Five who sat quietly staring at screen with deep frown lines. Feeling their mostly questioning but somewhat accusatory stares, he blinked up at them, unamused. "You're all idiots. I didn't do this."

"Okay," Luther sighed and tried again. "But aren't you at all curious as to why your buddies are suddenly popping up everywhere?"

"They're not my buddies," Five defended snidely. "And they're _always_ popping up everywhere you moron. They're agents of the time continuum, that's literally their job."

"Is it their job to dispense of their dead randomly through the timeline via dropping them from the sky?" Ben hedged.

"Or our chandelier?" Klaus chuckled.

"I don't have any answers for you if that's what you're looking for," Five snapped. "But if you want my opinion? We should probably get a closer look at that museum display."

"Agreed," Luther said with his usual authoritative voice. "But first I think we should discuss what happened during the mission yesterday, since we're all present and accounted for now."

"What's to discuss," Diego snipped. "We nearly blew up."

"Guys, it's called mission debriefing. Every military and law enforcement organization throughout history has done it." Luther's eyes bounced over each of his siblings. "How else can we expect to get better if we don't discuss what went wrong?"

"Or what went right," Vanya offered softly to which Luther nodded strongly to, jumping onto his sister's positive spin.

"Okay," Allison conceded helpfully. "Should we start with why the building suddenly exploded?"

"It was the super," Five announced and then noticed the questioning stares. "Whatever you want to call them," he said with calm annoyance but then snapped, "The guy strolling around the building wearing fire like a trench coat and shooting flames from his hands. Obviously, he's one of the 43, just like us."

"He fits the age profile," Allison agreed. "But what made him go on a homicidal murdering spree?"

"Eudora's report said all the witnesses described the guy as being a hard worker, mostly quiet, kept to himself." Diego tilted his head with raised brows. "Pretty much fits the profile of every public shooting. It's always the quiet ones," he finished eerily soft.

"Okay," Luther nodded, redirecting their focus, "let's say he was one of the 43; his power obviously had something to do with fire. What caused the explosion? Gas line?"

"He did."

The other's stilled at the lilting voice and turned to look at Klaus who returned their questioning looks with one of shadowed certainty.

"But...that would mean he killed himself."

Klaus snorted and narrowed his gaze at the largest sibling. "Is it really so difficult to believe someone would snap under pressure and explode?" he asked without a hint of empathy in his tone.

"He's right," Five's lips were pressed thin as he turned back to the others. "Guy probably lost a client or something, snapped and went on a rampage."

"Then we show up; he freaks out, doesn't know how to control his power," Diego made a gesture with his hands, "Boom."

"Do you think he even knew he had powers?" Vanya spoke up.

"It's possible he didn't," Ben shrugged a shoulder. "I mean, some of our powers have been emotion-driven. Maybe it never manifested for him until he lost it."

_Like Vanya_ had been the unspoken thought on everyone's mind to end that sentence as the room quieted once more.

"What about after the explosion?" Allison redirected, seeing the light dim in her sisters eyes a bit.

Everyone's thoughts were startled as Diego's phone suddenly rang loudly with a shrill alarm. He whipped it out and looked the text over. "It's Patch; apparently there's a suspected terrorist roaming around a convention downtown. They're calling for us."

Luther was the first to rise. "We'll table this until after." He looked to Allison. "What about Claire?"

Allison nodded quickly, "Mom will pick her up from school."

With that the Umbrella Academy loaded into their van and made their way across town. Patch met them outside the fancy-looking hotel's entrance where all manner of interesting characters strolled in and out of. Eudora had a grim expression as they walked up and waited her instructions.

"His name is Andrew Foster," she held up a picture that looked like a senior photo. "Eighteen year old graduate that was just recently a victim of social media bullying. A witness stated they saw him purchasing an automatic weapon."

"How-"

"_Illegally_," Patch cut Allison off. "Fortunately they reported it which led us to here," she gestured to the hotel behind her. She gave them a grave look and sighed. "Due to the nature of this convention and the crowds, the higher ups feel the Academy would be better suited to blend in and extract him."

They all watched with varying degrees of curiosity and judgement as a man completely decked out in black spandex and armor with a bat symbol on the chest passed by. The masked man gave them a narrow look, nodded, addressed them as 'citizens' in a gruff voice before moving on toward the entrance.

Klaus leaned into Diego's space, "Did you just get a hard-on?" Diego elbowed his brother who snickered.

"Do me a favor," Patch called as they started for the entrance. "Try not to blow everything up this time?

...tbc


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"How in the world are we supposed to find this kid?" Allison spoke lowly in her ear piece which drew absolutely zero attention considering the surrounding chaos. The entire convention center was filled with people scampering about in costumes, laughing, conversing, squealing, acting fools, getting into character. It was a mish mash of fandom and passion crammed in a large open room filled with booths and stages and off-set rooms.

"Tell me about it," Luther openly spoke through his earpiece. He'd lost count of the number of times he'd been stopped by passing guests who wanted a picture with what they thought was a spot-on Umbrella Academy member. It had been embarrassingly cute at first, but after the tenth time, he was starting to get annoyed.

"Do we know what he was into?" Ben asked from across the expansive room as he weaved through the energetic crowds. "Maybe he's in costume?"

"_We didn't have time to dig that deeply_," Patch's voice filtered through their feed. "_But I'll have my guys look into it. Keep looking._"

"What about the rest of you," Luther inquired as he straightened following yet another picture request. The others, spread out throughout the large building all chimed in with negative responses. "Klaus, what about on your end?"

Klaus slowly strolled along one side of the room, shoulder sliding against the wall with hooded eyes while passerby's naturally weaved around him, as if sensing the darkness he carried. His green eyes had locked onto a young man with a shaggy haircut, sporting a large overcoat and walking by himself with a nervous expression. Klaus smirked as he stalked him further toward the main stage area.

"Klaus, you read?"

He ignored the voices in his ear, eyes never leaving his prey. The target delayed by the stage's stair for a heavy moment before running up onto it and pulling the automatic from beneath his brown trench coat.

"Hey, asswipe!" A young woman with pink anime hair, white sleeveless top, khaki shorts and brandishing a sword marched determinedly toward the teenager. Startled, the terrorist hesitated as the girl raised the sword and attacked. The teenager fired, catching her in the chest as she smacked him in the face with the intricately designed foam sword. The girl instantly dropped but not before a knife suddenly embedded in the teenager's hand forcing him to drop the rifle and the entire convention center to erupt in screams and panic.

Luther, already close to the stage, pushed his way to the edge and grabbed the terrorists ankle and yanked him so he fell hard onto his back. Five appeared on stage, grabbed the boy and micro-jumped them both outside to the waiting police who immediately took the boy into custody.

"I heard a rumor," Allison's voice spoke calmly over the convention's PA system, "that all guests calmly exited the building." The chaos immediately ceased as the guests calmly ambled toward the exits.

Allison let go of the scrambler button on her ear piece, relieved to see her siblings on the conventions security monitors still moving about unaffected by her rumor. "Everyone okay?"

"There's a casualty." Luther knelt down next to the still, young woman who'd bravely faced the shooter and gently closed her eyes.

Klaus startled as Ben was suddenly in his face, dark eyes grim and searching until he grabbed Klaus by the arms and dragged him through the crowd toward a back exit. They barged through a door and found themselves at a loading dock that was blessedly empty. Ben shoved Klaus against the brick wall, his eyes filled with fury.

"Ow," Klaus pointedly objected.

"What the hell were you _thinking_?!" Ben yelled as he gestured wildly.

"What are you talking about?" Klaus yelled back, now equally annoyed.

Ben shoved an accusatory finger in his face. "I _saw_ you, Klaus" he said gravely. "You used that girl as bait...and now she's dead."

Ben watched his brother go suddenly still, watched his sea-green eyes suddenly darken as they stared at one another. Watched the complete lack of empathy radiate from his lackluster expression. And then Klaus smirked.

"Ever the voice of reason."

It was the last thing Ben remembered before darkness took him.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Pain rippled through his back as he slammed into a bumpy surface. He rolled and dug his fingers into the vibrating, damp ground, fearful of losing his sense of gravity once more. He coughed and lifted his head, the nausea subsiding as he realized he was not where he'd just been.

He was in a closed area now, the echo of odd pulsating noises drifting through him. Dim lights would seemingly flutter across the room, too fast for him to focus on.

Klaus pushed to his feet, swayed a bit, and then tumbled into an equally bumpy and ridged wall which he felt no shame in allowing it to keep him upright. He squinted, trying to make sense of the room he'd fallen into. The very walls and floor seemed to ripple with movement and were warm to touch which left him with an eerie reminder of Jonah and the whale.

Suddenly a craggy voice garbled something completely foreign over a speaker system of some kind. And then a section of the wall tore open and one of the giant monsters was flying backward through it. Instead of crashing into the floor though, the floor immediately parted and the creature fell through to whatever was below before closing once more.

Another creature stomped into the room, screams echoing off the walls as it beat at the area where the other creature had disappeared through. To Klaus' utter horror, the giant monstrosity suddenly noticed him. It hesitated only a moment before it roared and raced toward him.

Klaus had nowhere to run, he was frozen in fear. Squeezing his eyes shut, he cried out as the beast raised it's massive claw and swung down on him.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"Have you tried their phones again?" Allison asked worriedly as she paced the basement's dining area.

"Like fifty times," Diego said with barely restrained impatience. He, Five and Vanya sat at the table nursing their respective drinks while Allison nervously fiddled with her hair, Luther leaning against the counter, uncertain what to do.

"Maybe we should go back and look again," Vanya offered.

"Police already searched the entire building," Diego pressed his hands flat against the table. "Wherever they are, it's not there."

They all froze as the back door popped open and in walked an out of sorts Klaus who looked equally surprised at their presence. "Hey."

"Where have you _been_?" Diego was the first out of his chair, grabbing his brother by the shoulders and looking him over.

"Where's Ben?" Vanya closed the door softly behind them, having looked first to make sure he wasn't trailing behind.

"Are you okay?" Allison laid a concerned hand on her confused brother's arm. Klaus' attention was bouncing between his siblings, dazed.

"Klaus," Diego gently grabbed his brother's jaw and redirected his focus on him. He searched the confused, moss-green iris' a moment. "You good?"

Klaus seemed to come to himself, blinked, swallowed and nodded. "Yeah. I'm good," his voice shook a bit.

Diego patted his cheek and then let his hand drop to his brother's shoulder as he stepped back to allow the other's access.

Luther was the first to break. "Where's Ben?"

"I don't know," Klaus looked suddenly worried as he read the truth in their concerned eyes. "He's not with you?"

"What happened?" Allison squeezed his other arm gently.

Klaus pressed his fingers into his eyes, rubbing harshly. "I don't know," he sighed. "There were gunshots and then...I don't know. I was walking out...as if nothing happened. I just kept walking until it was like I suddenly woke up." He shrugged. "Took me a bit to figure out where I was and then I walked home."

Allison looked devastated before she grabbed his head and turned it, looking in his ear. "Your earpiece is gone," she announced, voice heavy with shame.

"It must've fallen out," Luther squeezed Allison's shoulder supportively. "It's not your fault."

"Luther's right," Five finally spoke up, sipping his coffee. "We can't account for every mishap. And believe me, I'd know."

"Why didn't you call, dude?" Diego chided gently, nudging his brother.

Klaus blinked widely at that as he pulled a shattered cell phone from his pocket and presented it. Diego sighed through his nose as he accepted the destroyed device.

"I think it's safe to assume Ben's earpiece probably fell out too." Luther said tiredly. "He's probably on his way back as well. Just keep your phones on in case he calls."

Ben didn't call. Nor did he return home. It was a panic filled, guilt-ridden couple of days before the siblings gave up their city-wide search. Eudora had even put out an APB but nothing ever came of it. It didn't stop the Hargreeves children from jumping every time one of their phones rang or rushing to the door whenever it opened or they had a visitor.

Claire had cried the first night she'd realized her uncle Ben was missing. Her and Uncle Klaus had spent the next two days making their own 'missing persons' signs with a handful of crayons and paper and had hung up around town, escorted by her Uncle Diego and Uncle Luther. It was while they were in a convenience mart, the three of them purchasing more tape, when Luther's phone rang.

"Come home," was all Allison said.

"We're almost done here-"

"No, Luther," Allison interrupted, her voice grim and final. "Just come home."

Luther glanced at Diego who watched with a puckered brow and he couldn't help the sinking feeling that permeated his gut. "We're on our way."

They entered the main floor lounge and Allison immediately picked up Claire and hugged her tightly. Vanya was on the couch wiping away tears while Five poured himself a drink and Klaus lay sprawled in a lounge chair, his feet over one padded arm while his head rested on the other. They all looked either upset or angry.

"What happened?" Diego stepped further into the room. Vanya held out a letter which he took and ran his eyes over.

"What's it say?" Luther asked as he sat next to Vanya.

"The shortened version?" Klaus said bitterly without turning to look at him. "We all suck, so Ben's moved on to find himself," he finished loftily, his hand floating in the air.

Luther frowned, confused. "What? That doesn't make any sense."

Diego dropped the letter in Luther's lap and walked out. They heard him stomping up the stairs all the way to his room until his bedroom door slammed shut.

"Why would he leave?" Luther asked as he read over the letter, unable to comprehend.

"Apparently he just needed some space," Vanya sniffed and ran a hand over her face.

"Wouldn't you need some space if you spent the last thirteen years attached to Klaus?" Five asked into his glass filled with amber. Klaus raised an arm, proudly presenting his middle finger before Allison smacked his hand. Claire, still too young to fully comprehend the situation, giggled at her Uncle's antics.

"That's...partially true," Vanya amended. "I mean, consider it from Ben's point of view. He's had to watch us go through all the shit we went through- sorry Claire," she apologized immediately. "He's watched us, all these years as a shadow. Suddenly he's alive again and being thrown right back into the thick of all our chaos...wouldn't you need some time to think things through?"

"I guess," Luther hedged. He looked so lost as he leaned back against the couch, letter held loosely between his fingers. "This just seems so...cold"

"Like death," Klaus said dully, his eyes distant as they stared up at the ceiling. He blinked suddenly and pushed himself to his feet with a sigh. He looked at his remaining siblings and then held up his left hand, "Welp, on that tragic note, I'm off to bed."

He ruffled Claire's hair as he passed, giving her a small wink before heading toward the stairs. They watched him go and suddenly a new weight pressed against them. Luther was familiar with the weight and he hated it. They were drifting apart once more. One by one, they were parting ways.

"Did Uncle Ben go on a break?" Claire asked softly.

Luther sighed. Deep down, he knew, there'd come a day he'd be the only remaining member of his family left...and it brought tears to his eyes.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

He'd lost count of the time that had passed but judging by the numbness in his butt, he felt it was a safe bet it'd been well over 24 hours. He was tired, hungry, irate, and incredibly uncomfortable in the straitjacket he'd woken up in. He'd paced the empty room for hours, his only light coming from a bright, white light bulb overhead that rested safely behind a wire cage. The walls of the room were cement and there was a stale chill to the air that spoke of years of disuse.

He'd spent an hour, give or take, nearly putting his shoulder out of socket and jarring his knee, trying to kick and full-body beat his way through the solid steel door. It barely budged and he didn't even leave a dent. It was when his stomach had started growling that he'd given up and plopped down to lean back against one of the walls.

And that's where he'd sat until he was rudely awoken by a familiar cry. He blinked warily at Klaus who was pushing up from the ground, trembling and looking entirely worse for wear, wide eyes frantically searching around the room.

And then Klaus noticed him and he gasped, whatever fear had been present a moment before, draining from him. His brother's shoulders scrunched up as tears and relief filled his eyes and he slowly crawled toward him as if he were afraid he might be a figment of his imagination.

Then the door to the room opened and in walked another Klaus with a haughty smile and a small, dainty bow. "Good morning my favorite Asian cupcake," he cood.

Ben and the other Klaus were frozen with equal expressions of wide-eyed bewilderment.

"Whaaaaat the fuckity-fuck," the first-Klaus asked in shocked awe as he watched himself stroll into the room.

Ben chose to wisely stay silent but couldn't stop his eyes bouncing between the two Klaus' every few seconds. The second Klaus paused a moment, looking down on Ben with a small frown and then making a point of looking around the empty room.

"Something capturing your attention dear brother?" he asked sarcastically before his lower lip stuck out and he pouted. "You know how much I hate being ignored."

The first Klaus was making a slow circle around himself, cautiously leaning over to see his own face. "This can't be real," he whispered to himself.

Ben swallowed down his own confusion and turned a hard look toward the second Klaus who knelt down in front of him. "What do you want?"

"The same thing everyone wants," second-Klaus defended with an air of hurt. "To be loved, cherished by family…worshiped by the masses," he finished with a smirk and chuckled at his own hilarity.

"Be serious, Klaus," Ben said, unamused.

"Well if you must know, I don't give a shit about the masses," Second-Klaus scrunched his brow with feigned pity. "However, I'm kind of tired of everyone always telling me what to do, what not to do, where to go, what to act like, how to feel. I mean, where's it ever really gotten me," he asked as if Ben were an old friend who would obviously agree with him, "other than dead." He sighed loftily, his head resting against his fist bunched on his knee. "I'm just over the whole family thing. I mean, how many times can you can you die for your family before you just wise up and do what's best for you?"

Ben continued to watch him callously. "And what's best for you, Klaus?"

"Now, now," Second-Klaus' head tilted mockingly. "Stow the rage, we don't want the kiddies getting upset," he wiggled his fingers toward Ben's stomach. Suddenly a hand pushed through Second-Klaus' face and made Ben smack his own head back against the wall in surprise.

He heard a surprised squeak from behind Second-Klaus who was now watching Ben curiously. "Do you need an aspirin?" Second-Klaus asked chidingly.

Ben sighed through his nose and refocused on Second-Klaus. "What's your endgame?"

Second-Klaus reached out and squeezed Ben's arms. "Haven't decided yet," he admitted before leaning forward and planting a kiss on Ben's forehead before exiting the room with a small wave. "Be back later with food. Be good."

The second the door was shut and the locks were clearly slid back in place, Ben looked wide-eyed to the remaining Klaus who stared back with equal amounts of confusion and alarm before opening his mouth and summing it up.

"Fuck me sideways!"

...tbc


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Klaus waved his hand through Ben's body despairingly. "I'm dead, I'm dead...holy shit I'm dead! Wait- why can you see me? And why is my actual body walking around _without me_?!"

"Klaus," Ben said calmingly, he'd had years of practice. "Breath. We'll figure it out; one step at a time," he reassured. His brother took a deep breath through his nose and watched him with wide eyes and a small nod. "What's the last thing you remember?"

A stream of words burst free from his brother's mouth with wild gestures and something about giant monsters, a creepy forest and a whale possibly in space? Ben paused a second at that but then interrupted his brother's rant.

"Klaus! I mean following the mission."

Klaus blinked at him, his mouth still open mid-rant. "You mean before the explosion?"

It was Ben's turn to blink in confusion. "Explosion?" Suddenly it clicked and his eyes widened a bit. "You mean the _office building explosion_?"

"What mission are _you_ talking about?"

"Klaus, that was like...five days ago."

His brother was quiet for a few long moments, his puzzled and distraught eyes searching Ben's. Suddenly, he seemed to notice Ben's predicament which made his brow pucker with concern. "Are you...is that a straight jacket?"

Ben felt mildly embarrassed as he looked down at the cursed restraint and nodded tiredly. He looked up at his brother again who suddenly snorted and chuckled.

"Is this like some weird Freaky Friday shit or what?"

Ben couldn't stop the small smile that pulled at his lips. "I told you you'd regret watching that."

Klaus pouted his lips and sighed. "I really do."

"What happened before the explosion?" Ben redirected.

Klaus blinked, coming back to himself and then frowned. "This lady showed up."

"Big lady? Red hair?"

"Yeah," Klaus nodded with wide eyes. "Kenny's mom."

"Wait- Kenny?" Suddenly Ben's eyes widened too and he sat up a bit. "From the bowling alley!"

"Exactly! Only she can't really be Kenny's mom because she was also on the bus after I escaped Hazel and Cha Cha. Then she showed up at the club where I died trying to save Luther."

"I remember," Ben breathed, puzzle pieces slowly fitting into place.

"Oh and she also admitted to being at our first mission at that bank heist when we were kids."

"What did she say?"

"I don't know," Klaus whined self-consciously. "Something about watching me and finding me fascinating," he muttered. "Honestly, she creeped me out more than Stalker John- remember Stalker John?"

Ben nodded, unsettled. If Klaus found this lady creepier than that psycho who'd made Klaus so fearful, he'd walked into a police station throwing heroin into the air like flower petals just so they'd send him to jail for a few months, then she had to be dangerous. It still pissed him off to no end that the only place his brother had felt safe to run to was prison. Not home, not their family...behind bars.

Either way, it had worked. Stalker John had moved on to other, more famous, prey which inevitably ended with his own incarceration in a nuthouse. He remembered the look of quiet relief in Klaus' eyes when he'd seen the news reports.

"Right, so Kenny's mom is bad news," Ben muttered. "What did she do to you?"

Klaus' brow puckered as he shook his head. "Nothing...she was just talking and then the building exploded and…" Klaus grew quiet as his eyes went distant. "You were still inside. Everyone else had gathered out front, but you were still inside," he recounted with a haunted expression.

"You forced your spirit into my body and saved me," Ben finished with a hint of pride. Klaus blinked, confused at his brother's statement. Ben squeezed his eyes together and let his head bounce softly against the wall behind him. "That's right, you weren't there for that conversation."

"Excusez-moi?"

Ben shifted as best he could so he was sitting cross-legged, taking pressure off his numb ass. "Okay, recap time," he warned and then spoke quickly. "You have a new power. You can shove your spirit into other people's bodies, essentially possessing them. Only it's not as great as it sounds because you kind of go catatonic when you do it. Five and Diego have been watching you on the home monitors like a couple of peeping tom's and figured it out. We didn't want to tell you because we were afraid you had too much on your plate already and then the mission came up - building exploded - you, in your loving and loyal panic, unknowingly possessed my body to help me escape the burning building before the roof collapsed."

Ben and Klaus stared at each other for several long moments, unmoving.

"I have questions," Klaus said slowly.

"Later," Ben assured. "The red-headed lady? She was doing something to you when you I came to. She must've done something that disrupted your spirits return to your body."

"I can possess people?!" Klaus' brow twisted in disbelief.

"Klaus focus."

"I _am_ focusing. I've had a super secret power all this time and I never used it to-"

"-possess David Bowie?"

Klaus paused with wide eyes. "How did you-"

"Because your evil twin said the same thing...disturbingly."

Klaus sucked on his lower lip as he looked for the truth in his brother's eyes. He made a popping noise with his lips finally. "Okay. So you're thinking Kenny's mom somehow split my soul in half? My body got the Id while I'm left with the super-ego?"

"Exactly!" Ben grinned, happy to be on the same page. "See, I knew you'd retain some of those books I made you read."

"Actually Mistress Monique taught me that. Hard to forget her lessons," Klaus admitted with a small, nostalgic grin.

Ben wanted so badly to snap his fingers in his brother's face. "Point is," he said instead, "your Id killed someone." Klaus looked distraught but he needed to hear it. "I saw him do it and when I called him out on it, he knocked me out, put this _fucking restraint_ on me and locked me in here."

"The others will come looking for you," Klaus assured.

"Klaus," Ben said tiredly, "it's _you _we're talking about. As much as you try and deny it, you're actually very intelligent and highly capable."

Klaus looked at him flatly. "Is that your way of saying I'm a manipulative bitch?"

Ben squinted and tilted his head.

"Right," Klaus pouted, and drew in a deep breath as his eyes bounced around the room, "okay so I probably made up some bogus letter about you needing some time away to find your-newly-alive-self or some other cliche drabble, blah-blah-blah, signed it, left it for the others to find; they, being overwhelmed with guilt from you dying previously would be obviously hurt and confused but also feel obligated to respect your wishes," he clapped his hands together and held them out again as if to say _ta-dah_. "No siblings to the rescue."

"We're on our own," Ben nodded.

Klaus crossed his arms and huffed dejectedly. "Being kinda dead sucks."

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Klaus shifted the bag to his other hand as he pushed opened the back gate, paused and turned toward the shadowed area along the fencing. He tilted his head knowingly. "Where do you think you're going?"

Little Claire peeked out from the shadows beneath guilty eyelashes. "I wanted to make sure you were okay," she explained as she walked up to him.

He looked down at her. "And why would I not be okay?"

"Because Uncle Ben left and he was your best friend."

Klaus smirked, _oh the innocence of children_. Well..._normal children._ He'd never been innocent, or sane. No, that had been stolen from him by an unforgiving bastard, years of psychological abuse and a handful of siblings who always said they had his back but lied and instead used him as a scapegoat for their own emotional upsets.

"Not anymore," he sighed happily to himself.

"You don't love Uncle Ben anymore?" Claire asked fretfully.

Klaus smiled and bent over so he was at her height. "Uncle Ben will always be my favorite. Till death do us part." He patted her on the head and ushered her back toward the mansion. "Go on, before your mother finds you skulking out here like a trash-panda."

Claire giggled but dutifully went back inside with a small wave which Klaus returned. He waited a moment, his eyes finding the backyard house camera before dropping to tattle-Tess who stood off to the side, watching him warily. He smirked and nodded toward the camera. She frowned, stuck her tongue out and ran through the house's brick wall.

He sighed darkly, he'd take care of her later. For now, he had a brother to feed and hummed happily to himself as he strolled down the dark streets alone.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"This is super disturbing."

Ben cleared his throat in annoyance, giving his spirit-brother a pointed look to _shut-the-fuck-up_ as Id-Klaus scooped more potatoes from a bowl and held it out for him as if he were an infant. There was no way his spirit-brother could be more disturbed by this than Ben was. He hated this with every fiber of his being...except his stomach, which oddly enough also housed a portal to an eldritch monster - go figure.

He accepted whatever came off the spoon, trusting that despite being the uncoordinated instinctual trends and desires of his brother's personality- he was still his brother and obviously cared for him still to some degree, otherwise why keep him locked up? Why bother feeding him? He had to bide his time and play along.

If only his brother's alter-ego would do the same, he thought as he glared daggers across the room where spirit-Klaus sat, watching them with differing levels of disturbed and disgusted. Ben wanted to kick him so badly, instead he swallowed dutifully.

"That's my good boy," Id-Klaus patted Ben on the head to spirit-Klaus' great disdain, and dropped the food containers back into the bag. "Need to pee?" Ben shook his head. "What about the other one?" Again, Ben shook his head.

"You sure? I may not be back until tomorrow afternoon."

Ben dropped his gaze to his lap, done with the niceties.

"At least kick him in the shin or something - break his leg," spirit-Klaus complained.

Id-Klaus shrugged, picked up his bag and walked out with a smile, locking the door behind him. He tossed the bag down the hallway and turned the corner, nearly running into another person who gasped in surprise.

Vanya pressed a startled hand to her chest and backed away from her brother with wide, untrusting eyes. Klaus, also startled, quickly pieced it together - his sister had followed him, seen him go into the room with Ben, tried to escape to tell the others but got lost and turned around in the maze of hallways.

Klaus tutted and gave her a disappointed shake of his head. "Oh, sweet, gullible Vanya," he sighed and then squeezed his fist. Suddenly a glowing form appeared behind his sister and slammed her head into the wall. She dropped with barely a squeak, leaving a small blood stain on the wall as he loosened his fist, the insane-looking spirit disappearing once more.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"You need to try using your power," Ben repeated adamantly.

Klaus didn't look so convinced. "What if it somehow...I don't know, calls him? Like what if he can feel when I'm using it and it leads him back here?"

"Can you feel when he's using it?" Ben asked patiently.

Klaus dramatically dropped his hands to his lap. "Look, if I wanted a logical response to every question, I would've asked my brother, Ben."

Ben's brow puckered at that before he tilted his head. "What?"

Klaus suddenly looked at him, also confused. "What?"

"Are you talking to another spirit?"

"No, why?" Klaus asked softly.

Ben blinked at him for a moment but filed it away for later. "Seriously, you need to try using your power. Even if it does draw him back, what's he gonna do?"

"He might get really angry...at you," Klaus finished in a small voice.

"True," Ben nodded, "then again, it might also reset the whole thing. Who's to say you can't shove your spirit back into your own body?"

Klaus sighed in contemplation before he finally nodded and stood, shaking his arms out and rolling his neck. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

He closed his eyes and squeezed his fists, reaching into the dark places of his mind. When he opened his eyes, he was facing a familiar wall pattern that shifted as if alive.

"Oh, fuck me!"

...tbc


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter** 7

"Anyone seen Vanya?" Allison leaned into the basement dining area.

"No," Five said dully, not even bothering to look up from the newspaper he was pouring over.

"She didn't come home last night," Allison explained with a hint of worry.

Luther swallowed his mouthful of Lucky Charms. "Maybe she stayed at her place? She has her thing at the museum coming up, right? Maybe she needed to practice somewhere without distraction."

Claire skipped around her mother and up to the table, reaching over and plucking a marshmallow from her Uncle's cereal who gave her a scandalous look. She giggled and ran off, her book bag swinging from side to side.

Allison smiled but rolled her eyes, amazed at how fluidly her daughter had slipped into their daily lives and made a place for herself. "Okay, well I gotta drop the munchkin off at school. Text me if you hear from her?"

Luther nodded and Five mumbled a farewell from face-deep in his coffee mug. She snorted and shook her head as she made for the stairs, greeting Klaus who was trudging down them. He grunted and kept going, straight for the coffee pot and a mug. He took a sip and then dramatically spit it out, choking and coughing.

Luther watched with mild concern before scooting the creamer bottle across the table. Klaus grabbed the bottle without so much as a thank you and began pouring more creamer into his mug than coffee. He slapped the cap back on the creamer, took a sip of his coffee and hummed with pleasure.

Diego came up behind Klaus with a grin and slapped him on the back. "Little brother," he announced, in a good mood.

"Hermano molesto," Klaus greeted though, with feigned enthusiasm.

Diego's brow puckered through his confused grin; his heritage may have been Mexican, but he knew next to nothing of it's language. "I thought we could do some training today," he announced, "just you and me."

"Oh, well," Klaus responded breathy, he supposed they expected him to be grateful for their attention. "As terribly riveting as that sounds, I've got my own shitty plans to deal with today, so no."

Diego's smile faded, unamused while Luther froze, spoon halfway to his mouth. Even Five looked up from his paper, suddenly curious. Diego took a step toward Klaus, pointedly getting into his personal space.

"I think the answer you're looking for," Diego said lowly, 'is _yes Diego_."

Klaus glared up at him. "You're awfully bossy for a man in spandex."

Luther snorted into his cereal as Five just smirked.

Diego tilted his head down until he was eye level with his brother. "It's leather. You'd know that if you'd stop raiding your sister's closets."

Klaus shrugged, unashamed. Two hours later he was still glaring at his brother, though they'd relocated to the back yard. An annoyed Luther and Five stood to either side of Diego, a healthy distance away but close enough to intervene if things got out of hand, as often did with any of their training sessions.

"You're not even trying," Diego accused heatedly.

"Well maybe if you'd actually listen to the words coming out of my mouth, you'd realize _I don't care_."

"Klaus," Diego warned.

"While I appreciate us fighting over daddy's ashes, I really don't have time for thi-"

Diego lashed out with a punch which Klaus instinctively dodged. He struck again and this time Klaus slapped his hand away. Diego nodded with a small grin, circling him. "Good."

He jumped at Klaus and suddenly the were trading swipes and punches and blocks left and right, moving faster and becoming more heated as it went on. Diego had had far more practice, however, and suddenly caught his fist square on his brother's mouth. He too late realized his error, forgetting he'd been sparring Klaus and not someone more capable of handling a punch, like Luther.

"Klaus?" he immediately reached out for him to check the damage when a glowing blue, scraggly face frozen in a horrified scream suddenly appeared in front of him and slammed it's hands against his chest. Diego flew backwards, barely missing Luther and Five who both jerked out of the way. He fell hard onto his back and rolled to a painful stop.

Luther and Five looked back toward their other brother who was loosening his glowing fist and shaking out the last of the light, the terrifying apparition disappearing as well. Klaus pressed the back of his hand to his mouth to find blood on it. He chuckled, blood covering his teeth and lazily held his fist in the air. "'_A_' for effort," he cheered sarcastically before waving off their surprised expressions and heading back inside.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Ben sighed for the upteenth time as he started recounting the bumps on the cement ceiling. He'd been up to four-hundred and twenty when he'd lost his place once again and pressed him face into his bent knees with a barely contained growl.

Suddenly Klaus was flying through the side wall, rolling across the ground as if he actually had form. He groaned painfully and turned his head to see Ben watching with concern.

Ben finally felt the panic in his chest ease a bit at his brother's reappearance, but couldn't fully quell the nervousness in his voice as he spat, "Where have you been?!"

"Okay," Klaus slowly pushed to his knees with a grimace. "While it may not have been an actual space whale, it _was_ a creature of some kind that those monsters were absolutely using as a spaceship before killing everyone on board, including the ship apparently, which made it crash land onto some god-forsaken rock in the middle of some area of space that I wouldn't even begin to be able to describe other than it had really weird looking stars and _I'm freaking out Ben!_" he ended in a high pitched voice that was heavy laden with panic.

"Okay," Ben said for lack of a better response. Clearly his last two hours hadn't been as stressful as his brother's. "We won't try that again."

"Thank you," Klaus gasped, relieved. He flopped down flat on his back and stared at the ceiling as the room quieted once more. "Do me a favor," Klaus said softly, "If it comes down to you or me...please don't choose me." Klaus' head rolled so his brother's eyes met his sincerity.

"It won't come to that," Ben assured.

Klaus sighed through his nose, appreciating his brother's undeserved belief in him. "Like you said...it's _me_ we're talking about."

"It won't come to that," Ben repeated with more finality. It was his turn to sigh, his brother wasn't wrong. But there was no reality in which Ben would find himself capable of killing Klaus. Yes, there were times he wanted to punch him, kick him, strangle him...but never kill him. "So space, huh?"

"Yeah," Klaus chuckled breathily.

"That's new territory for us. Unless you count Luther's time-"

"Please do not bring up the fucking moon again," Klaus muttered which made Ben smile at the familiarity of it all.

"You feeling up to a tour around the building?"

Klaus' head lifted from the floor to look at him. "I'm fairly certain I already know where we are."

Ben looked surprised at that. "You do? Where?"

"The old insane asylum down off of Massey and Burge, the dodgy side."

"You're sure?"

Klaus squinted, "Well, there's an awful lot of psychotic and scary looking dead people walking around with really insane eyes and straight jackets. Probably where yours came from. Plus, dear old dad brought me here once but...that session did not go well. Never brought me back."

Klaus pushed himself up suddenly, dusting his spirit-pants off though nothing fell off of them. "Right...time to find the exit. You okay by yourself?"

Ben grinned and shook his head at his brother's antics. "Go."

Klaus walked through the wall into the hallway and was instantly surrounded by the dead. They roamed the halls, some running, biting, nashing, screaming, laughing, crying...all manner of crazy and manic psychosis traversed the hallways and rooms. He was just grateful they were avoiding Ben's room for the most part and then he suddenly wondered if that was somehow his Id's doing. He avoided looking at the insane eyes that passed him, they ignored him for the most part which was a blessing he supposed.

He weaved up and down the hallways until he had a good idea of the route Ben would need to take if he was ever able to escape the room. On his way back, he casually popped in and out of other rooms, looking for anything useful. He froze inside one of the rooms, finding himself staring at a familiar body.

"Vanya," he whispered as he slowly knelt down next to his unconscious sister, crudely tossed in a corner of the room. Klaus was overwhelmed with a feeling of helplessness as he uselessly ran his hands over her. She had dried blood on her forehead which was surrounded by a darkening bruise.

Klaus scrambled to his feet and hurried out, as he passed through the wall, he noticed a small, opened box lying outside Vanya's locked door. He peered into the box as best he could to see a vial of clear liquid and some syringes. "Crap," he muttered.

He ran back toward his brother's prison, walked right through the door and screamed in startlement as he came face to face with his Id. For one terrifying moment, he thought the other him was actually looking at him, but then his Id turned back to Ben who watched them tensely.

"Mac and cheese today, thank you mom," Id-Klaus snickered in his usual high pitch tone.

"Ben! Benbenbenben," Klaus crouched down next to said brother, across from the other him who was stirring up the mac and cheese with a spoon. "Vanya's in a room across the hall!," he spoke quickly, overly excited and worried. "The _Id-hole_ knocked her out and dumped her in a corner. She's got blood all over her face and I think he might be drugging her with some of Reggie's medicine stash to keep her from using her powers."

Ben's eyes widened with concern which he quickly covered as a spoon with food appeared in front of him. He accepted the spoonful, but felt the monster in his gut suddenly churn with anger. He chewed as he glared at his brother's carefree expression, humming as he stirred more of the lunch. When Id-Klaus lifted his head a bit more, he saw the split lip with surrounding bruising and wondered if Vanya had managed to do that before he knocked her out.

"Ugh," spirit-Klaus' shoulders dropped a bit, "You can't talk while _he's_ here. Damnit, your _so annoying_," Klaus growled at his body. He stood, clapped his hands and rubbed them together as he paced. "Okay, twenty questions; here we go. Do you think he's trying to take us out, one at a time?"

Ben shook his head a bit, after taking another spoonful.

"No," Klaus answered for him and paced. "So Vanya must've seen something, like you did." Ben nodded. "Do you think she'll be able to see me?" Ben shook his head. "Because he can't see me?" Klaus pointed to his Id to which Ben nodded.

Klaus sighed dramatically and pulled at his hair. "Why is it you can see me then?" Ben gave him a critical look, lips bunched together. "Well hurry it up, would you? I was never good at twenty questions," he whined. "I hate yes and no questions; they're boring and stupid and lack anything colorful that makes life interesting."

Ben's eyes slipped closed on an impatient sigh after accepting another spoonful of food.

"Do you think we should kill him?"

Ben's eyes flew open at that as he adamantly shook his head.

"I think we should kill him." Klaus scrunched his face and nodded. "I think we should just kill him and be done with this whole ordeal. And you aren't really giving me a clear answer right now so I'm going to assume you agree with me since you usually do."

"Klaus," Ben growled and suddenly both of them were looking at him with questioning eyes.

"Yes, dear brother?" Id-Klaus tilted his head, watching Ben seemingly mull over his words.

"I need to use the bathroom," Ben finally decided on.

Id-Klaus studied him a moment before he smiled then put the food down. "Then pee, you shall." He reached down and helped Ben to his feet, brushed him off and then patted his cheek.

Ben glanced back at his spirit brother who looked mildly hopeful and worried all at the same time.

"You're gonna do it, aren't you?" Klaus encouraged, following close behind him. "Ben?"

Ben chose not to response and instead followed Id-Klaus who confidently led him down a series of turns and hallways. He seemed fairly unconcerned with the idea of Ben trying to escape. He finally stepped into a large men's restroom and stopped in front of one of the many dirty looking stalls, some with doors barely hanging onto their hinges.

Ben paused just within the entrance, uncertain as to how this was going to play out. Id-Klaus snickered and waved him forward, apparently finding the whole thing entertaining.

"Relax," Id-Klaus twirled his finger and Ben turned so he was facing the row of dirty, cracked mirrors. And then Id-Klaus did something he honestly wasn't expecting; he started working and loosening the restraints against his back. "Give me a second, I tied some of these really tight...never can tell how tight is too tight when it comes to an eldritch beast, am I right or am I right?" Id-Klaus cackled at his own joke.

Ben watched his Id-brother's reflection in the mirror with a critical eye. He was really having trouble comprehending a Klaus that could be so caring as to feed him, give him some privacy to relieve himself and visit on a daily basis with a Klaus that could use another person as a lamb to the slaughter to get what he wanted or commit violence toward their sister.

"What happened to your face?" Ben asked, watching his brother's reaction in the mirror as he stilled suddenly, a regretful, dejected shadow casting over him for a moment before he seemed to snap out of it and resumed his de-knotting.

"Our brother's happened," he said bitterly. "They really have no concept of what too far looks like. Not to mention their listening skills are atrocious."

"They hit you?" Ben asked, trying to keep his voice non-committal, but even he was a little surprised at that.

The heartbroken shadow washed over Id-Klaus again as he stood, not realizing Ben could see his reactions. "Won't happen again," came the stony response.

And suddenly the jacket was loose and slid down his arms. He hissed at the sharp ache that suddenly caught his attention as he was finally able to move his arms around once more.

"Ta-dah," Id-Klaus smiled and squeezed his brother's biceps, helping to work some life back into them. "Sorry about that." He moved so he faced him, handed him a roll of toilet paper and gestured to the stalls behind Ben. "Have at it. Feel free to be choosy; I have no idea when the last time someone's actually taken a scrub brush to these."

Ben grimaced and chose the one with the door still mostly intact. He covered the toilet seat and then some in toilet paper before sitting.

"You're not falling for that woe is me crap, are you?"

Ben looked up to see spirit-Klaus leaning over the wall of the stall next to his with a judgmental expression. Ben made an annoyed face at him, checked to make sure Id-Klaus couldn't see him through the cracks in the door and then gestured angrily for spirit-Klaus to go away.

"He killed a girl," spirit-Klaus reminded fervently, unperturbed by Ben's vexed expression or current situation. "He hurt Vanya and dumped her in the corner like she was roadkill."

Ben sighed, his brother really had zero personal boundaries; it was still a struggle to this day to get him to close the door when showering or changing. He held his hands out, shrugged and mouthed _what do you want me to do_?

"Kill him," Klaus said persuasively and even went so far as to flap his hands around like they were tentacles. He could see Ben wasn't convinced and knew he was going to have to play his last card. "You saw the shit I went through in life," he said with all seriousness. "You know I've got a butt load of issues I've never really dealt with and some of the worst coping mechanisms to boot. You saw my face," Klaus pointed toward the other side of the bathroom.

"Imagine all those issues suddenly bubbling to the surface," Klaus went on, "only this time remove my sense of morality, forgiving nature and guilt."

Ben looked up finally, meeting his sincere eyes.

"With our family history, do you really think I'm going to let a fat lip slide?"

Ben sighed and dropped his gaze, resting his arms on the panels of the stall. His brother was right. A Klaus without a conscience was a dangerous creature indeed. He'd often wondered, in his years following his brother around, if the next hardship would be the final straw that would turn him into something evil, into a villain. But he just kept taking the hits with a smile. Sure, he didn't cope in the most healthy of manners, but he wasn't out killing people either; wasn't purposefully out to ruin others fun or steal their joy.

If there was one consistent trait that continually drew Ben back to Klaus over and over, it was his brother's ability to forgive...and then forget with the help of heavy self-medication. The only person in the entire world that wasn't granted the same forgiveness, was Sir Reginald Hargreeves. But he was dead, and now they had no one to blame but each other.

He ripped some toilet paper from the roll as he remembered the callous and cold look in Id-Klaus' eyes when Ben had accused him of using the young woman as bait. Id-Klaus hadn't even given it a second thought, he'd just thrown her to the wolves to achieve his own goal. He didn't care.

Ben stood and pulled his pants up. He looked at his brother who watched him with a pitying expression from above. Ben flipped him off and pushed through the stall door.

Id-Klaus swung around smiled at him, straight jacket held loosely in one hand. He let Ben wash up in the sink real quick before walking toward him. Ben hesitantly met Id-Klaus' eyes and in that moment, they both knew what was about to happen.

Ben pulled his shirt up and the monster burst forth, immediately a tentacle slammed into Id-Klaus and threw him against the wall, square tiles cracking under the sudden pressure. Ben thought he could hear spirit-Klaus cheering him on from the toilet stall. One of the tentacles wrapped around Id-Klaus' neck and lifted him off the ground, pressing him back against the wall. He quickly turned purple as he choked and struggled against the violent creature who now had his wrists captured in tentacles. Fear tingled through Ben's veins like ice as he tried to uselessly control the rage of the beast, to reign it in a bit; his intention was never to kill his brother, just gain the upper hand.

Suddenly Id-Klaus' hand flared to life with blue light and the room was filled ghosts. Ben's beast was confused and swung at the apparitions but didn't have any effect on them. Two of the ghosts suddenly grabbed Ben's arms and wrested him to the ground, pulling his shirt down. The beast disappeared and Id-Klaus fell to the ground, coughing and gagging, but with fists still glowing blue.

Ben couldn't run, couldn't even budge between the other insane looking apparitions that joined in to pin him down. Id-Klaus, still gasping, picked up the straight jacket, grimaced and turned dark eyes on Ben.

Whatever tenuous trust he'd built with his brother's Id had completely vanished. All that remained was ruthless, cold-hearted fire in Klaus' eyes as he approached him. He briefly feared if he'd tipped his brother over the edge, giving him that final push toward a sociopath.

Id-Klaus tossed the jacket to his ghostly minions who immediately maneuvered Ben into the sleeves despite his cries of protest and struggle. Then the apparitions faded away.

"You tried to kill me," Id-Klaus said with lofty surprise. "Normally I enjoy those type of situations, especially the tentacles. But honestly?" Id-Klaus crouched down in front of Ben who was now tightly restrained once more and on his knees. "I've had a rough day, and you're pissing me off," he said coldly.

"You're better than this," Ben couldn't stop the words; he'd said them often enough and he believed it so much they just slipped out.

Id-Klaus drew in a slow breath, leaned in close to Ben's ear and spoke slowly and softly. "I will destroy you and everything you've ever cared about."

Ben's eyes found spirit-Klaus worried moss-green eyes; he saw the building panic steeped in years of brotherly love and friendship. Id-Klaus pulled back just enough to re-capture Ben's attention.

"You realize," Ben spoke just as softly, hardening his own eyes to ensure his brother read the truth in them, "that includes you, right?"

Id-Klaus smirked. "I'm counting on it."

...tbc


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"Klaus, hey wait up," Diego hurried up the stairs to catch up with his brother who ignored him. Diego felt guilty as hell. Yeah, Klaus had essentially taken him down earlier...but that didn't negate the fact that Diego had instinctively punched him in the face. He knew to pull his punches and when not to, and for whatever reason, he'd made a mistake.

"Hey, I'm sorry about earlier," he grabbed his brother's arm, turned him around and froze. He expected to see the fat lip; he wasn't, however, expecting to see angry red and dark purple bruises wrapping entirely around Klaus' neck, nor the bruises around his wrists. "What the fuck happened to you?"

Klaus snorted, his eyes bitter. "Oh just a simple misunderstanding between siblings."

Diego's eyes widened as he pulled him closer. "Did _Luther_ do this?"

Klaus slapped at his brother's probing fingers, "You'd like that, wouldn't you." He started toward his room again but Diego cut him off.

"Hey, talk to me. What's going on with you?" Diego's eyes softened. "Is it Ben?"

Klaus erupted into giggles and nodded. "Yes. It's Ben."

Diego sighed, he knew he was getting the runaround but he really didn't like the scenarios his brain was coming up with to explain Klaus' injuries. "Look man, he's just gotta take some time for himself, ya know? He'll come back."

Something dark danced in his brother's eyes. "Don't count on it."

Diego let him pass, moderately disturbed by the recent turn of events. "Klaus," he called after him. "At least let mom look at those...so you don't suffocate in your sleep?"

He watched his brother flip him off without turning as he disappeared down the hallway.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"You got a second?"

Luther looked up from the couch where he was crouched over the table, coloring with Claire who also looked up curiously. "Sure, let me finish this up."

"Finish it up now," Diego said with no room for argument.

That got Allison's attention who was sat next to the fireplace reading. "Come on, Claire. It's time to work on your numbers anyways," she said sweetly with a pointed look at Diego.

Claire's shoulders dropped but she obediently put her crayons down and stood. As she passed Diego, she tugged on his arm and when he leaned down, whispered loudly in his ear. "Go easy on him, he's a little slow."

Diego winked at her and very much enjoyed the flat look that took over Luther's expression who'd obviously heard. He waited until he could hear their footsteps heading into the basement before he turned a hard look on their number one. "Did you see Klaus just now?"

Luther shook his head, "No. Did you apologize?"

"That was the plan until I got a good look at him. He looks like a dominatrix just beat the shit out of him."

"Who does?" Five interrupted casually as he strolled into the lounge, hands in pockets.

"Klaus. Just now."

"That's weird," Luther's face scrunched as he toyed with the crayon still loosely gripped between his fingers, "I didn't think you guys were sparring that hard."

"We _weren't_," Diego stressed.

"Maybe he's got a blood disease or something?" Luther offered with slight concern.

"Stop talking immediately," Five pointed at him. He turned back to Diego, "What exactly did he say?"

"Said it was a _misunderstanding between siblings_."

Luther's eyes widened as both Diego and Five turned accusatory glances toward him. "It wasn't me! I haven't even seen him since this morning."

"Look," Diego swiped his hand in the air, "he's been acting weird ever since Ben left." His brother's gave him obvious looks. "Weirder than usual," he amended.

"Hold on a second," Five held a hand up and then disappeared. He reappeared a second later with Klaus who'd clearly been laying on his bed when he'd been micro-jumped and now tumbled to the floor between the table and couch. "Sorry about that," Five said dully, "I keep forgetting we moved the couch back a few inches."

Klaus, one arm on the table, one arm on the couch held his hands out. "Is there something I can do for you gentleman?" he asked, his voice heavily laced with his usual aloof sarcasm.

"Geeze Klaus," Luther exclaimed as he noticed the angry bruises around his brother's neck. "Was someone choking you?"

Luther was not expecting the dark look that suddenly peered up at him; the malevolence and the hatred flickering within the green eyes. Then his brother smiled, as if nothing had ever happened, pushed himself to his feet and dusted his hands off.

"Right, okay here's the deal," Klaus announced casually. "I used that girl back at the convention as a meat shield. Ben saw it, got all pissed off, so I knocked him out and have been holding him prisoner in this old abandoned building for the last three days. You dickwads fell for that super fake letter about soul-searching, well done by the way. Then Vanya followed me yesterday so I had to lock her up too. Honestly, Ben and I were getting along just fine until this morning when he tried to kill me which just goes to show you really can't trust a guy to urinate peacefully these days," Klaus finished, shaking his head as if to say _what are you gonna do?_

The room was deathly quiet for several moments before Luther held a hand up. "In no way is that okay or funny."

Klaus gave him an overly stunned but appreciative look, throwing his hands out, "_I agree_."

Then Klaus closed his fists and they flared brightly just before Luther turned and threw a large fist at Diego's head. Five jerked back in shock as Diego took the full force of the punch and was hurtled across the room before dropping like a sack of potatoes. Suddenly Luther blinked and his eyes widened, his mouth fell open as he realized what he'd done and he looked to Five who was now smirking at him with his head tilted.

Five snorted as Luther stared at his fists in shock, and then skipped over to where Klaus stood staring straight ahead. Luther stammered uselessly as he watched Five take Klaus' hand and then waved cheekily at Luther before they both disappeared.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Klaus sat cross-legged across from his sister who was still in a heap in the corner of the room. She didn't even look like she'd moved since he'd found her earlier. He sighed deeply, feeling a heat press against his eyes.

"Hey Vanya," he said softly, tilting his head to better see her face. "I just wanted to say that...I'm sorry. For everything." He swallowed with a nod as his eyes trailed the wall behind her. "I fucked up."

He scratched at the back of his head, tugging at the hair there. "I know you're not surprised but…" he sighed. "I never meant to hurt any of you."

He tilted to see her slack face again. "Look I...Ben needs you. And...I'm pretty sure that if you don't wake up soon," he licked his lips, sucking on his bottom one, "I'm going to end up doing something I can't take back."

He gave her a small smile as a few hot tears burned down his cheeks. "I need my psycho sister to wake up and stop me. Whatever it takes just…" he shook his head. "Just don't make me watch my family die because of me."

Klaus watched her another moment and then sniffed and wiped at his face. "Don't take too long little ruskie," he said as he leaned forward and kissed the air above his sister's cheek.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"What the hell Luther?!" Diego yelled angrily as Grace finished stitching up his eyebrow. Luther had just, against Allison's better judgement, entered the infirmary to check on his brother.

"That wasn't me, Diego," he tried to explain, though he didn't really understand it himself.

"The fuck it wasn't! You know anyone else in this house with hands the size of concrete blocks?"

Luther held the accused hands up apologetically. "I'm sorry, I can't explain it! One second Klaus was talking, then I blacked out and the next thing I know, I'm looking at your body flying across the room with my fist still in the air. I swear to you," he pressed his hands together pleadingly, " I have no idea what happened."

"Wait-wait-wait," Diego gently grasped his mother's hand as she attempted to apply a bandage and stared at Luther. "You blacked out?"

Luther looked overwhelmingly relieved that his brother seemed to believe him as he nodded. "And then Five did his thing and took Klaus with him."

Diego's frown deepened which didn't help the ringing headache at all. "Five just left, without saying anything?"

"Yeah, and…" Luther hesitated, his eyes roaming the infirmary wall, clearly embarrassed.

"And _what?_" Diego asked sharply.

Luther shrugged and looked down at his hands. "He skipped," he mumbled quickly.

Diego's head tilted pointedly as he squinted. "He what?" he asked lowly.

Luther sighed and shifted so he leaned on one hip. "He skipped," he announced louder with a raised hand.

Diego and Grace both watched Luther for a quiet moment. Then Diego's eyes roamed above Luther's head a moment before closing slowly and he pressed his lips together, drawing in a deep breath. "I'm gonna kill him."

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Ben immediately looked up at Klaus with an odd but familiar mixture of relief and concern. Klaus knew he could see the leftover emotions on his face as he avoided eye contact and walked to the adjoining wall that Ben rested against and sat.

"How's Vanya," Ben asked softly.

Klaus shrugged and blinked slowly. "Still out."

"It's not your fault," Ben said knowingly.

"Okay," Klaus responded apathetically.

Suddenly Five appeared in the middle of the room with Id-Klaus in tow. "Hey," Five greeted as he slowly lowered Klaus' body to the ground as gently as possible; not easy in a thirteen-year old body.

"You mind watching that for a moment," Five pointed toward the body which stared unseeingly at the corner of the room. "Be right back," he said before blinking out again.

Ben and Klaus looked at each other with equally gaping expressions.

"What just happened" Klaus asked, not entirely certain he wasn't tripping on acid.

Ben's eyes bounced over the still body lying in the middle of the room. "Klaus must've taken Five," he said suddenly.

"Really?" Klaus' face scrunched. "Because it looks like Five took _Klaus_, dumped him here and said _carpe diem bitches._"

"Klaus," Ben stressed, nearly done with hearing his brother's name. "Your Id possessed Five." He turned a pointed look to the unmoving, unseeing body on the floor.

"Ooooh," Klaus said and then his eyes widened slightly, "oh that's not good."

"Actually…" Ben said, his eyes bouncing between the two Klaus' contemplatively before widening. "You need to possess your body," he rattled off quickly.

Klaus' confused green eyes stared at Ben for a delayed moment before turning toward his body with realization. "Holy cat-muffin, do you think that'd work?" he asked in awe, moving toward the still body.

"I definitely think it's worth a shot."

"Okay," Klaus clapped his hands together and knelt down next to his body. He held his hands out over the body, pushed a deep breath through his nose and lowered his hands. He screamed as his body suddenly blinked and sat up gasping which made him to topple over in surprise.

Ben's hopeful visage immediately deflated as he realized they were too late. Id-Klaus pushed to his feet, shaking his arms out and loosening his neck.

"Oh my god," he cackled gleefully. "That was the most fun I've had in _years_."

"What did you do?" Ben growled.

"Loosen your panties there, Ben," Id-Klaus berated. "Just taking my powers for a little spin. And removing a few minor annoyances along the way," he chuckled to himself as he headed for the door.

"Where's Five?" Ben demanded but his brother ignored him, obviously done playing nice. The door closed behind him. "Where's Five?!"

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"Oh sweetheart, you're dripping on the floor," Grace announced in her usual sweet tone.

Luther and Diego both turned to see Five standing in the middle of the infirmary, absolutely drenched in blood. "_Daaaamn,_" they both said in awe.

Five was looking down at himself, confused for all of two seconds before looking up at his brothers from beneath his bloody brow. "I'm going to murder Klaus," he ground out and then flicked an earlobe from his sleeve. "Slowly."

...tbc


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Allison walked into the infirmary staring down at her phone. "Okay, I'm officially worried that none of us have heard from Van-" She stuttered to a stop, hands held out as she looked at the heap of blood soaked clothes on the floor that obviously belonged to a thirteen-year old boy.

"What am I looking at," her eyes bounced up to Luther and Diego who leaned shoulder to shoulder against the infirmary bed snacking on apple slices.

"Five just killed a bunch of people," Diego offered dully.

"Why?" she asked slowly.

"Klaus was hurt-butt by this morning's sparring session," Luther explained as he bit into another apple slice. He paused when Allison's forehead scrunched and Diego turned judgmental eyes his way.

Diego leaned in, "It's _butt_-hurt."

"Really?" Luther's face scrunched. "That doesn't sound right."

Diego blinked at him and then handed him another apple slice which Luther took without question.

"Hello?" Allison waved a hand, "someone want to tell me what's going on?"

"Temps Commission's been destroyed," Five announced as he walked out of the off-set shower room in a bathrobe, running a towel through his damp hair.

"Seriously?" Allison asked with wide eyes that bounced between her siblings. "That's a good thing, right?"

Five's lips flattened, "Good in a sense that we'll no longer be hunted for trying to prevent the apocalypse. Not good in that if history's shown us anything, it's that every fallen governing regime always leaves a power vacuum." He tossed the towel on the counter. "There's always someone stepping up to fill the void and more often than not...they're worse than the original."

Allison's shoulder's bunched. "Then _why_ did you murder them?

"Technically I was the weapon in this scenario. Klaus is the real murderer."

Allison's eyes bugged as she looked between her siblings, "_What?!_"

"Mommy," Claire padded into the infirmary and looked up at her mother, "there's an old lady in the basement crying."

"That would be Gloria," Five imparted. "She was the message distributor between the Temps."

"Why is she in our basement crying?" Allison asked through her teeth.

"Have some compassion, Allison," Five berated casually. "She just witnessed all her co-workers and friends being brutally massacred."

"Why _did_ he spare her?" Luther inquired.

"Maybe he just likes old ladies." Diego gave a relaxed shrug. "Who knows? It's _Klaus_."

"Okay, to be clear" Allison started with one hand on her hip and the other pointing a finger in the air, "just because I have a kid now doesn't mean you exclude me from the family drama."

"Sorry," Luther glanced at Diego, making sure he looked apologetic as well. "We didn't want to do anything that would endanger Claire."

"You _murdered all of the time lords_," Allison stressed. "How is she not in danger?"

Five's head tilted with mild interest, "I didn't realize you were a fan."

"I'm not."

"That'd be _this_ bitch," Claire proudly announced with a healthy amount of sass as she mimicked her mother's stance.

"Don't oversell it," Allison critiqued without looking at her. But then she did glance at her, "And don't even think of repeating that word outside these walls, understand?"

"You've got good tastes, kid," Five regarded her approvingly.

Claire flattened her lips at him and nodded. "I get that a lot."

"Okay missy, time for bed," Allison declared and then looked to Grace. "Mom, do you mind?"

"Of course," Grace took Claire's hand and walked her out.

"Oh and...maybe do something about the lady in the basement if you get a chance?" Allison called after her.

"She has a name, Allison-"

"Don't you start with me," Allison pointed a finger at their shortest sibling with fire in her eyes. "Alright," she moved over to the counter and leaned against it, crossing her arms and pursing her lips out, "let's hear it; from the beginning."

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"I have a theory," Ben announced.

"Me too," Klaus said unblinking from across the room, he stared at a point just above Ben's head.

Ben nodded. "Me first. I think the reason I'm the only one that can see you is because you were possessing my body when Kenny's mom split you. I'm thinking the part that split off somehow attached to it's last possessor. Me."

Klaus' expression didn't change nor did he look at Ben. He simply pondered the words a moment and then hummed with a small nod.

Ben's head tilted a bit, watching him. "What's your theory?"

Klaus drew in a deep breath. "That I'm about to murder my family. And that a small part of me always knew it would end like this."

"Klaus," Ben said patiently, "we all have fears of hurting the ones we love the most." He shrugged. "And often times we actually do it. It's human nature to hurt and disappoint those closest to you."

"As sweet as that sounds, I don't recall Hallmark making a movie about a loving brother that murdered all his siblings and then went on to terrify humanity with the spirits of their dead loved ones."

Ben sighed through his nose. "Look," he said through gritted teeth, "I want to be supportive and caring right now, but my arms are killing me and you're not the only one that nearly killed their brother today. So suck it up and help me!"

Finally, moss-green eyes dropped to his and he watched with mild trepidation as an idea suddenly took form; he just _knew_ he wasn't going to like whatever came next.

"Christmas convention," Klaus muttered to himself and then seemingly filled with new determination, hurried over to crouch in front of a very wary Ben.

"Christmas what?" Ben asked, pressed further into the wall, definitely not liking the gleam in his brother's eyes.

Klaus grimaced for all of half a second before waving it off and meeting his brother's untrusting gaze with an apologetic one. "Long story, you weren't there. The abridged version? I can get you out of that thing," he eyed the straight jacket. "Barring your theory is true, and this works."

"If _what_ works?" Ben asked with heavy suspicion.

"Whatever happens," Klaus went on with imploring eyes, "wait until he's fully in the room. There's no ghosts in here so he won't be able to use them."

"Klaus-" Ben shook his head, it was classically never a good idea if his brother didn't want to bother explaining it.

"Wait until he's in the room," Klaus stressed with a pointed finger in Ben's face.

"Klaus, no-"

Ben didn't get to finish the protest. One second his brother's hands flared blue and the next he was falling against a cold, dirty brick wall in an alleyway, right arm wrapped firmly around a limp body and his left arm hanging uselessly at his side with stabbing pains of liquid fire shooting through it.

He slid down the wall gracelessly as he cried out, his shoulder causing his vision to white out for a moment while he tried to gently lower the body onto his lap. He took some deep breaths, and used his right hand to adjust his left arm just enough to ease the pain. He turned the face in his lap toward him and brushed the hair away.

"Vanya," he gasped and tried to adjust her a bit more, tapping her face to try and wake her. Klaus had been right, the entire right side of her face was covered in dried blood. _Klaus_, his mind suddenly screamed at him. His head swiveled left and right, searching for the absent spirit. "Klaus," he whispered loudly, uncertain as to where they were and not wanting to draw any unwanted attention.

"It's dislocated."

Ben startled at the voice, shooting pain stabbing through his arm. He squinted in the moonlight to see two eyes watching from beneath a mound of stacked cardboard and other discarded junk. He heard the voice sigh and then a very haggard man with a scraggly grey beard, greasy long hair, bloodshot, haunted eyes emerged slowly. Ben could practically hear the groaning muscles and popping bones as the man hobbled over toward him beneath layers of frayed and stained clothes riddled with holes.

"You're not gonna get very far until you set it. I'm surprised you were able to drag your friend this far as is," the man's craggy voice wheezed through cracked lips and a few stained teeth that remained.

Ben pulled Vanya closer to his chest as the homeless man crouched before him, hands held out in a non-intimidating manner. Ben swallowed, realizing he probably looked like a frightened animal with how wide his eyes felt and the way his heart was trying to pound it's way out of his chest. His brother had clearly dropped them in this homeless man's claimed alley, probably hadn't even seen him before disappearing. It wasn't this guys fault the chaos of their lives had been dropped in his lap.

"She's my sister," Ben explained, feeling sweat beads rolling down his face as he pulled Vanya closer, not wanting the homeless man to get the wrong idea while also putting it out there that he'd fight tooth and nail to ensure her safety.

The man's eyes softened a bit behind the bushy brows, lips disappearing behind the beard and mustache that bunched together. "Look, I know a desperate situation when I see it," he said gestured toward Ben and Vanya. "I can't fix it or get involved...but what I _can_ do is set that shoulder for you so you can be on your way."

Ben blinked at the stranger, uncertain if he'd heard him correctly. Everything was happening far too quickly he wasn't able to properly process. Where had Klaus gone? How had they escaped the asylum? Had spirit-Klaus killed Id-Klaus? Ben wanted to scream he felt entirely helpless.

As if sensing Ben's internal breakdown, the homeless man held out a dirty hand. "I was a medic in the army. Set a lot of shoulders in my time. A lot of gangly boys not ready to carry the load of battle on their backs." The man gestured to Ben's shoulder. "It'll hurt like hell for a brief second but once it's set, you'll feel like a new man. Plus you'll be able to use that arm again some."

Ben met the stranger's eyes a moment and couldn't help questioning how a man who was clearly capable and intelligent could wind up homeless and alone. He'd been through Klaus' rehab stints; he remembered a couple of the patients who'd been war veterans suffering from PTSD; the haunted look in their eyes. He'd been shocked to recognize it in Klaus' eyes shortly after his time being kidnapped and tortured by Hazel and Cha Cha.

His brother had ignored him after that, ignored his questions, his concern, his pleas. He refused to talk and that was how Ben had known something serious had gone down. Fortunately Diego had been there and recognized the signs as well.

Ben swallowed and drew in a shaky breath. "What's your name?"

The stranger paused, surprised by the question. "Peter," he shrugged, "everyone called me Pete."

"I'm Ben," he nodded and then grimaced as he shifted Vanya enough that Peter could reach his left side. "Thank you for your help."

"Don't thank me yet," Peter warned as he pressed one hand into the left shoulder, the other held onto Ben's left wrist, raising the arm. "Like I said, this is gonna hurt like hell."

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"So," Allison hedged from her cross-legged position on the infirmaries counter, "the body that landed on the chandelier and the whole Day of Wrath event, all the random Temps stuff popping up throughout time...that was _you_?"

Five nodded into his coffee cup he'd micro-jumped downstairs to retrieve; Grace had been in the process of consoling Gloria with some fresh made tea. "Klaus possessed my body and used it to decimate the Temps Commission, scattering their bodies across the timeline."

"Since when is that a thing he can do?" Allison shook her head and then she paused suddenly. Luther grimaced, knowing what was about to come up. Allison's mouth dropped open as she looked at her siblings. "Oh my god! Did he - with Patrick?"

"Highly probable," Five nodded, proud of her deduction skills. "Although, judging by Klaus' reaction to the news report, I don't think he was fully aware of what he'd done."

"Probably thought he was dreaming," Diego crossed his arms.

Allison's face dropped into her hands before she looked up again with disturbed eyes. "And here I was feeling guilty for wondering how that was Patrick on the news and not Klaus."

"It still doesn't explain _why_ he's doing all of this," Luther interjected. "I mean, the things he said earlier...I don't think he was protecting the family."

"Look, Klaus has been through a lot of shit," Diego spoke up. "Granted, a lot of it's self-inflicted, but some of it wasn't. Even so, he has never tried to outright hurt one of us, ever."

"What's your point?" Luther interjected.

"Something's not right. Klaus can be a selfish, flamboyant prick, but he's not vindictive." He looked to Allison. "Just like Vanya's not a psychotic murderer bent on destroying the world."

"You think his power's affecting him somehow?" Allison clarified.

"I think for once in his life we should give Klaus the benefit of the doubt, whether he deserves it or not," Diego said harshly with no room for debate.

"Okay," Luther crossed his arms, "what do you want to do? Have a conversation with him? That didn't go so well the last time we tried that."

"Well I definitely don't think we should lock him away in a dungeon," Diego snapped back.

"I'm not suggesting that," Luther bit back equally.

"Even if we did take him down, who's to say how far his reach is? He could just body-hop infinitely and we'd never catch him," Five theorized with a shrug.

"He has to have a weakness," Luther argued.

"He does," Allison interjected softly as she stared at the ground. "The only thing that's ever given him any kind of freedom from his power," her grave eyes raised to capture her brothers attention. "And the one thing we judged him so harshly for running toward all the time."

Diego shook his head. "No. That's not an option."

"It's our only option," Five concluded with a challenging look. "Unless you'd like to revisit the not killing him part."

"How is this the best we can come up with?"

"Because we're not heroes, Diego," Allison argued. "We didn't _save_ _the world_, we cheated the system by the skin of our teeth. We're a bunch of traumatized kids that grew up to be dysfunctional adults trying to survive and not kill anyone else in the process."

Suddenly a scream reverberated through the house followed by sobbing and Claire's calm voice yelling up from the basement. "Mommy, Gloria found a head in the fridge! She's crying again!"

"Damnit Klaus," Allison's head dropped back with a sigh before she turned toward the door and hollered, "And what are you doing out of bed?!"

There was a brief pause, "Mommie, is that you? How did I get downstairs? I must've been sleepwalking again."

Allison rolled her eyes and headed toward the stairwell cursing her genes while Five joined her, offering to get the head.

...tbc


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Vanya squinted and blinked as dim lights slowly stopped swimming across her view and focused into a streetlight. She groaned and pressed a hand to her head, trying to keep her brain from sloshing out. She felt a full body jostle and then realized she was being placed on the cold pavement. Flashes of following her brother across town, getting lost in an abandoned asylum, seeing Ben through a crack in the door.

"It's okay, Vanya" she heard a familiar voice say and assumed she'd gasped or made some kind of distressed noise. "It's me; it's Ben. I've got you."

"Klaus," she finally managed to form a word. "He's…"

"I know."

She could hear the regret in Ben's voice and knew her fears had been confirmed. Something was seriously wrong with their brother, more so than usual. She wasn't quite sure what had initially tipped her off, just a feeling. Klaus could be unintentionally cruel with his humor and devil-may-care attitude, but he had never intentionally hurt them. Plus he'd been so reserved and dark following their encounter with the fire-starter, and maybe some of it was partially her power, but she could swear his vibe had changed, like she could sense it.

"Why?" she asked simply, feeling tears slipping free from the heat in her eyes; she wasn't entirely certain if they were from the pain in her head or pain in her heart. Ben shifted her more against his chest, brushing the hair that wasn't matted with blood from her face.

"It's complicated," he explained gently. "The short of it is that red-headed woman from the office explosion did something to him that split his spirit or personality, whatever you want to call it - he's walking around without his conscience so to speak."

Vanya sat up a bit on her own, picking at some of the dried blood on her cheek as Ben's explanation soaked in. "He's a walking Id?"

A small smirk pulled at Ben's lips followed by a nod. "I've been calling him Id-Klaus to help keep them separate."

Vanya frowned at that. "Them?"

Ben sighed, rubbing at his left shoulder. "So the ego part of his spirit is...still in spirit form."

Vanya blinked at him. "I don't understand, how would you know that?"

"Because I can see him?" he said with squinted eyes. Vanya continued to look at him dumbly. "When his power evolved in the future, apparently it also gave him the ability to possess other people by temporarily transferring his spirit into them."

"What?" Vanya's eyes widened. "That sounds incredibly dangerous! What if he gets stuck?"

"Well...that's actually a good point," Ben hesitated. "Either way, after the explosion, I was out of it. Klaus possessed my body and was able to get me out of the building before the ceiling collapsed."

Vanya rested a hand on her brother's arm. "_That's_ how you got out?"

Ben gave a brief run-through of the entire encounter following the explosion. Vanya was quiet afterward, shifting so she was leaning against the wall of the building they sat next to.

"So...how do we fix this?"

Ben sighed as he regarded their surroundings once more. Once Peter had helped set his shoulder, he'd been able to carry his sister further from the abandoned asylum into an offset alley. Granted, it had still hurt like hell, which made him seriously question his brother's pain tolerance; he had no idea how Klaus had carried Vanya with the dislocated shoulder. Ben felt he'd barely been able to carry her with the shoulder _set_.

"I think the first step, would be finding a phone. We need to warn the others."

They helped each other get to their feet before Vanya let her fear form into words. "Do you think he'd hurt them?"

Ben met her sad eyes for a long moment. "I think _he's_ hurting. And with his better half missing, I think his normally contained sociopath is willing to do anything to stop the hurt."

"He didn't kill _us_," Vanya stated, reminding herself more than anything that even though he was doing bad things, he still retained some level of attachment to them...he was still her brother, whether all there or not. "That's has to mean something, right?"

Ben wrapped his good arm around his sister and turned them toward the alley entrance. "I hope so."

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Klaus pressed further into the tiny alcove he had squeezed himself into, face turned away from the intense heat that rushed past his little hidey hole like an exploding sun. It was the seventh time he'd had to find shelter from the odd phenomenon.

Stepping out of Ben had been like stepping through a wall between worlds. He'd frozen, immediately fearful he'd wound up back on the space whale but quickly realized he was standing amidst a close knit city made of an obsidian-like mineral. All the buildings were connected and had dome shapes about them with columns and made him feel like he was walking through an ancient city.

He'd thought the city to be abandoned but as he'd tiptoed his way through the narrows, he started to notice oddly shaped, dark faces disappearing from view whenever he'd catch them in his peripheral. He got the impression he was the predator here.

Then the fireballs came.

The first time they'd rushed through the city like meteors shooting through the atmosphere, he'd heard the distant rumbling of their approach first. Then a hot wind rustled against him. When he turned to look down a long walkway, he saw the quickly approaching wall of light and he almost too late ducked into an open entryway. The firewall had blasted through the streets giving off intense heat which didn't seem to bother the structures themselves and shielded those behind the walls.

Once the fire had passed, he hesitantly made his way through the streets once more, entering abodes and buildings to find them suspiciously empty. He thought he could hear foreign whispers but they stopped whenever he called out.

That was how Klaus spent the next three days; searching a city whose citizens refused to show themselves and had an incredible knack for hiding, and avoiding the horizontal firestorms as he'd taken to calling them.

On the third day he'd climbed to the top of a tower to get a better look at the surrounding landscape, what he saw shook him to his core. The black city was in the middle of what used to be a mountain. They, whoever _they_ were, had built the city out of the mountain itself and all that remained was the surrounding wall of the crater. Beyond the rock wall a ginormous, spherical wall of flame burned orange, it filled a large portion of the sky and seemed to pierce through the very ground of what lie beyond the mountain.

Klaus blinked hard, slapped his cheek and spent several long minutes trying to comprehend what he was seeing. The sun that had somehow broken through this planets core didn't seem to have any effect on the city, other than the random fiery explosions that would erupt from the sun and burst through the city walls. He couldn't understand how they weren't all a melty mess or immediately disintegrated from the heat.

Klaus slid down the inner wall of the tower as another firestorm hit. He sat with his knees bent, elbows on his knees and his head buried between them. He'd tried more times than he could count times to get back to his world, to his family. Nothing seemed to be working though. He just couldn't seem to access his power, which made him wonder if this was how Five had felt, alone in an empty world, powers useless.

He'd taken Ben's body quite easily and then made quick work of popping his shoulder out of socket, just like he'd learned at the Kinky Kristmas Convention. Although, dislocating his shoulder then had been more of an honest mistake by a rough handler who didn't respect safe words, but it had worked in Klaus' favor as it had allowed him to wiggle out of the restraints and make a run for the opposite end of the convention hall where the happy pills were being handed out.

Klaus had wiggled Ben out of the straight jacket and had planned on self-setting it via the concrete wall, but then the door lock clicked and he didn't even hesitate; he grabbed the front of Id-Klaus' shirt and swung him around into the concrete wall. His Id didn't even have a chance to be surprised as his head smacked against concrete and he dropped.

Klaus didn't check to see if his body was still alive, he bolted out the door and made his way down the hallway to Vanya's room. He unlocked it and rushed through, making quick but painful work of dragging his sister with his one good arm under hers, backwards through the asylum. He crashed through the partially broken front door and didn't stop until he'd gone a couple blocks through back alleys. He finally stopped in one such backstreet, his lungs burning along with the fire in his left arm.

He almost felt bad for leaving Ben's body in such a state to come back to. But if his Id were to somehow find them, Ben was better suited for controlling the inner beast; Klaus feared if he unleashed it, it would hurt Vanya or go so out of control it ended up killing Ben. Already Klaus could feel the swirling darkness twisting in his gut - well, his brother's gut. The eldritch beast was not happy with his intrusion, it didn't understand and Klaus feared if he stayed much longer, the beast would emerge on it's own. With that thought, Klaus had taken a deep breath in and then exhaled, feeling himself step backward.

Backward into a confusing, foreign world where suns dissected partial planets without burning them and light shifted and moved like curtains of chiffon wavering in darkness. Klaus sniffed and pressed his palms into his eyes. That had been three days ago...well, days was purely theoretical of course; he had no way to keep time here other than the dull knocking sound that reminded him of a metronome. It seemed to come from somewhere within the tower and was steady; and after a lot of nothing, he couldn't stop his brain from counting along with the ticks.

The entire place was maddening and made his insides want to claw their way free from his skin. His palms slid from his eyes to his ears as he rocked gently, trying to impede the building panic attack he felt coursing through his veins, building up pressure in his lungs. He felt his vocal chords grate as he let loose a frustrated scream, his voice lost amidst the firestorm rushing past.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"And you can't remember _anything_ from when he possessed you?"

"For the seventh time," Five turned annoyed eyes to Diego, "No. If you ask me again, I'm going to ram this pencil through your dickhole."

The siblings were pouring over their father's old journal notes and records in his old office; each of them sat in a circle on the floor around the stacks of papers and books. They'd been at it for an hour before they heard the tell-tale clicking of Pogo's cane.

"Can I be of any assistance?"

"Depends," Luther grumbled, raising tired eyes, "Can you think of an old abandoned building dad would've taken Klaus too?"

Pogo drew in a deep, contemplative breath, his eyes searching the decorated wall above the siblings heads. "You're father took Master Klaus to several places for special training," he announced, his voice carefully even, not necessarily offering any kind of approval toward Reginald's parenting but also not wanting to speak poorly toward the man who made him. "Only one of those buildings have since been abandoned, however, there was one location they visited that was already abandoned nearly thirty years ago."

Realizing he had captured all of their focus, Pogo continued. "It was the old Chaussey Asylum, shut down after years of reported abuse, neglect and gross mistreatment of it's patients." Pogo's eyes drooped behind his glasses, shame wrinkling his brow. "Your father believed the ghosts there would have a stronger connection to the living due to the violent nature of many of their deaths and therefore easily accessible for one such as Master Klaus."

Luther looked perplexed, his forehead wrinkled and mouth hanging partially opened. "Dad took Klaus to an insane asylum? As a kid?"

"I believe the training at the asylum was a one time occurrence. Suffice to say...it did not go well."

"What does _that _mean?" Allison spoke up.

"You know what it means," Five said pointedly, closing the journal he'd been scrolling through. "Unexplained injuries; random illnesses that kept us quarantined for several days." He let his gaze bounce between them. "We've all had special training. Some of ours was easier than others," he eyed Luther with pursed lips.

Diego's dark eyes found Pogo's. "He didn't fall down the stairs wearing heels, did he?"

Pogo's head dipped as he leaned further onto his cane. "No."

"Wait," Allison leaned in, "are you talking about when his jaw was wired shut and he broke his ribs?" Diego responded by tossing the stack of papers he'd been going over onto the pile. "Why didn't he say anything?" Allison went on. At Diego's frown, she held a hand up. "I mean _after _they unwired his jaw."

"What's he gonna say?" Diego snapped. "A bunch of insane ghosts beat the shit out of him? Who would believe him? Hell, he's been telling you for years he could see Ben and no one believed him." Diego turned his glare on Luther. "You were so wrapped up in being a dad's number one, you didn't give a shit about what he did to the rest of us."

"Don't start this again," Luther shook his head with warning.

"Did you know he used to lock me in a water tank with no air for hours on end just to see how long I could hold my breath?" Diego accused more than confessed. "Bastard would go get himself a _cup of tea_ while I panicked underwater, wondering if I would make it out of the tank this time or not."

Luther became very quiet with wide eyes. They'd never been allowed to speak of their special training with anyone much less each other, Reginald's rules. Luther had no idea as to the trials his siblings had gone through, and by the look of Allison's shocked expression, neither had she.

"He used to lock me in the downstairs washroom for days without food or water." Five offered since they were in sharing mode. "Told me I could eat once I spatial-jumped to a certain location."

Allison turned a questioning look to Pogo who offered a small, sad smile, unable to meet her gaze. Luther, who had been sitting very still, finally pushed to his feet and squared his shoulders as he towered over the much shorter assistant.

"We need a tranquilizer and the address of this asylum," Luther demanded, his voice firm. Pogo nodded and turned to acquire the requested items. "And tell mom we'll be late for dinner.

...tbc


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

The ringing of the main phone echoed throughout the mansion. Pogo hurried toward it as best he could with his bad hip. Not that they received many calls, but those they did, Grace typically handled until he could take over. However, she was posted outside Claire and Gloria's rooms for the night on watch duty. Pogo lifted the receiver and cleared his throat. "Hargreeves residence, how may I be of service?"

"_Pogo?"_

"Master Ben," Pogo addressed with surprise. The missing sibling sounded equally surprised. "Are you well?"

"_I've been better. Vanya's with me. Where are the others?"_

"They've left to find Master Klaus. There is something deeply troubling happening with him at the mome-"

"_Where did they go?"_

Pogo paused momentarily, concerned at the desperation in the young man's voice as he cut him off. "Chaussey Asylum," he said gravely, straight to the point.

"_Shit,"_ Ben breathed through the phone. Pogo could hear Vanya's voice in the background and suddenly Pogo knew that he'd made the wrong decision in giving them the address of the asylum; could feel it in the curling of his stomach. "_We gotta go,"_ he heard Ben say distantly before he heard a click and then a dial tone.

Pogo swallowed and blinked as he gently replaced the receiver. He shifted to the side of the table and dropped into the accompanying chair, his cane dropping from his hand as he leaned forward and buried his face in his hands.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Nausea swept through him like a hurricane followed by a high pitched ringing; the more he blinked away the blurriness, the more the ringing turned into nonsensical babbling and cackling. He rolled slowly onto his side with a groan, dabbing fingers to his brow where a throbbing gash had unleashed a waterfall of blood down the side of his face.

'_Storming the castle. Unleash the dogs! We'll gut them like fish!'_

Klaus squinted across the room toward the wild-eyed man in a pair of standard tighty-whities with oozing wounds across his entire body, pacing in the corner yelling loudly at the walls. Klaus held a hand up to quiet the ranting man as he pushed to his feet, leaning heavily against the wall. Suddenly a distant, metal clang echoed down the empty halls into the room.

Klaus froze, his eyes scanning the hallway, "What was that?"

The hunched, maniacal man hurried into his personal space. '_They've come! Storming the castle! Give life!'_

"Wait-wait-wait," Klaus muttered, waving the crazy ghost down. He looked at the empty room behind him and the open door where his sister had once been locked behind, pressing a hand to his throbbing head. He heard more slamming sounds like doors being forced open. "Who's come?" Klaus directed back to the ghost that watched him with deranged excitement.

'_Strangers- with purpose. Give life! GIVE!'_ the crazed man held out crooked, beseeching fingers. More voices of the insane dead called out, repeating this ghost's statements, spreading like wildfire through the building.

Klaus drew a deep breath in and out through his nose, blinking widely as he steadied himself. "Gather the troops then," he ordered loftily as he made his way down the hallways, headed for the main entry lounge. He pushed through the double doors and paused taking in the four surprised and alarmed expressions staring back at him.

"Oh goody, it's the Village People," he swayed a bit as he stepped over a pile of discarded trash.

"Where's Ben and Vanya?" Luther demanded.

"Oh, they left," he gestured toward the exit innocently.

"You really expect us to believe that?" Luther deadpanned.

"You're free to have a looksie for yourselves," he grinned, swinging his arm toward the double doors behind him.

"Klaus,' Allison hedged, "We just want to understand what's going on with you."

Klaus snorted scathingly. "You know you all are worse than dear old daddy. At least we knew what _he _wanted and _his_ stance on things but you lot?" Klaus shook a finger at them, eyes squinted and shaking his head. "Five assassinated people for forty plus years. Luther's a yes man that let his own brother die. Diego- god, where do I even start? Batboy much? Allison," Klaus cackled, stepping around debris as he talked, "rumored her _own kid._ And _Vanya...killed everyone_," he enunciated with an amazed chuckle.

"And yet here _I_ am, doing you a favor by the way," he gestured to himself, "by ridding you of the very time-bigots that have made several attempts at killing our family and ensuring the apocalypse, and what do I get?" He paused and looked at them critically. His face crumpled into a scrunched, pout, "Klaus punched me in the face and locked our siblings up - IT WAS A MISUNDERSTANDING!" he suddenly yelled with fury in his eyes.

"Klaus," Allison stepped forward calmly, hands held out as if speaking to a wounded animal, "Just come home with us and we'll talk this through."

Klaus' expression turned sweet as he tilted his head at his sister. "Oh my dear, naive sister...they didn't come here to talk." He eyed his brothers who stood fanned out behind Allison. "How quickly you forget," he smirked darkly at Allison once more, "you're the distraction."

Several things happened all at once, Diego raised the gun he'd been hiding behind his back and fired the tranquilizer the same moment Klaus squeezed his fist and a blue, shimmery form materialized in front of him, taking the dart in the face and laughing maniacally until Klaus let go of the ghost and it disappeared, the dart falling uselessly to the ground.

All eyes watched the dart fall, but Klaus' were the last to raise once more, filled with dark justification. "Anything else you'd like to _talk_ about?"

Five materialized behind him but Klaus already had another spirit conjured to block the hand-held tranqe. And suddenly the room was filled with ghostly figures in differing stages of insanity and death and chanting '_Give_'. As soon as the ghosts all realized they been connected to the living, they attacked with screams, cheers and mad cackling, arms swinging wildly.

The siblings fanned out and fought the apparitions with wide-eyed fear and trepidation but falling into well practiced stances and drawing on years of training. Five tried once more micro-jumping at his brother but was deflected by a wall of dead circled around Klaus that shoved him away.

"Allison, get out of here," Luther yelled back at her after kicking a woman with half her hair pulled out into two other apparitions.

"Are you crazy? I'm not leaving you-" Allison was cut off as another ghost leapt at her, wrapping their body around her face to stop her from speaking.

"You're the most dangerous power here," Luther yelled harshly as he pulled off the manic spirit and tossed it across the room. "If he possesses _you_, we're done for."

Allison hesitated only a moment, just long enough to send Luther a regretful and upset frown before turning and bursting through the main entry doors, and bowled into another person, both screaming in surprise.

"Vanya?" Allison gasped, holding onto her sister's arm to keep her from falling to the ground.

Vanya, suddenly recognizing her sister pulled her into a tight hug. "We were so worried. Pogo said you'd gone looking for Klaus. I was afraid we wouldn't get here in time-"

She was cut off by the sound of a body hitting the double doors but as they opened briefly, a blue glow faded away. Vanya took a step toward the asylum with wide eyes, she could hear the battle going on within and was filled with fear, for _all_ her siblings.

"Klaus has gone off the rails," Allison hastily explained, pulling at her sister's sleeve. "We have to get back to the mansion, find more tranquilizers."

"Wait - _tranquilizers_?" Vanya stopped. "You can't, he's a recovering drug addi-"

"Vanya," Allison urged, gripping her sisters arms, "Klaus is body-hopping and using our powers against us. He destroyed the Temps Commission; used Five's body and murdered all of them."

"What?" Vanya gasped.

"It's the only way to shut him down long enough for us to figure out how to fix this."

Vanya blinked as she hesitated, licking her lips as her sisters words steamrolled her fears. "No," she shook her head and took another step back. "He's scared." She tilted her head apologetically as she pulled her arms away. "He needs our help."

"Vanya," Allison snapped, grabbing her attention. "You're the most powerful out of all of us. If you go in there and he possesses you...it could mean the apocalypse all over again."

"He won't," Vanya said with quiet certainty.

It gave Allison pause as she read the absolute trust in her sister's eyes. "How can you be so sure?"

A small grin pulled at Vanya's lips as her eyes faded to white. "Skittles and gravy."

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Ben circled around to the back of the building, looking for another entrance. He'd left Vanya out front as lookout should their siblings arrive or Klaus return. He had a bad feeling they were already too late if the muted sounds from inside were anything to go by.

He passed by a dumpster and found the back loading door hanging on by half a hinge. Ben easily pushed through and found himself in the lower level hallway. He followed it until he hit a stairwell door and raced down to the bottom, the sounds of screams and booms and vibrations in the walls urging his legs to go faster and his heart to race.

He burst through the basement level and started kicking in doors left and right. He found a small paper bag outside one room and dug into it finding the syringes and sedative he remembered his brother mentioning with regards to Vanya's capture. He moved on, searching more rooms until a familiar white jacket caught his eye in one such room. He stepped inside and instantly recognized the room as his. He quickly searched the room and his stomach clenched at the blood stain on the wall with a dark puddle beneath it.

Suddenly a large vibration reverberated through the building and Ben knew Vanya had entered the fray upstairs. Ben stood, wiped his shaking hands on his pants and turned in a slow circle, mind racing for an answer - for the right answer.

"Klaus," he called softly and turned again, eyes bouncing around the room. "Klaus, we need you."

Ben waited a tense moment as the walls shook once more but his brother's spirit remained absent. He felt an anger light in his chest, fueling to the rest of his body, his eldritch beast perking up behind the portal. Ben was mad. Mad at the woman that had caused the split in the first place. Mad at their father for traumatizing them and brainwashing his brother into a closeted sociopath. Mad at the powers that be that cursed them with such cruelty. Mad that his options were narrowing so emasiatingly thin that he would be forced into lethal measures.

"Klaus, get your ass back here right now! We need you!"

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

He hadn't been certain he'd heard it, the distant echo of a familiar voice. Blinking open heavy eyelids, moss-green iris' bounced around, searching for the owner of the voice. He'd heard so many whispers and fiery explosions and monotonous clicking over the last 3 days, the sudden intrusion of a new sound was like hitting the jackpot. He uncurled himself from where he'd given up against the tower's parapet, marveling that for not having an actual body of flesh and bone he sure as hell felt sore and raw.

He peeked over the parapet wall, the last firestorm having passes a couple hours ago. The black city below remained unchanged, his eyes barely catching the dark inhabitants that would always disappear before he could focus on them.

_Klaus get your ass back here right now! We need you!_

Klaus gasped as he took a step back; the distant voice had seemingly reverberated around him. "Ben," he called out hesitantly, his insides twisting with trepidation. Fleeting hope kicked his lungs into gear and he found he couldn't draw in enough air. He moved forward again, grasping the parapet and screamed his brother's name.

_Damnit Klaus...Please._

It was the softly spoken plea at the end that had Klaus shakily climbing onto the parapet wall. Ben kept saying their powers were emotion-driven. He chuckled, knowing he was mental for even considering it, but what better way to generate an emotional reaction than this? "Ben's gonna kill me," he snickered lightly before leaping off the tower wall with flailing arms and legs, enjoying the wind whipping past him as the stone ground rushed up to meet him.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"Oh, look at you!" Klaus applauded with glowing hands as Vanya had somehow created a sonic shield of vibrations around herself, protecting her from her brother's ability to body-hop. She turned white eyes to him as she hummed to herself, swiping an arm out that catapulted several of the blue, shimmering bodies that were trying to climb over her shield across the room.

"We need to talk," Vanya calmly informed him, her voice sounding like it had been split into several different tones and reverberated along the walls.

Klaus' head tilted as he tutted with a sweet smile. "But I've got nothing more to say." He raised his left arm without looking, his hand flaring brighter and suddenly Diego, who'd come in for another attempt with the tranq he'd snatched up from the ground suddenly halted in his advance and turned instead toward Vanya.

Diego threw two knives into her shield and then ran at her before he too was tossed aside by Vanya, though with more care this time. Five micro-jumped over to him, snatching the tranq from a confused Diego's hand but was suddenly shoved into the wall by two ghosts, the tranq shattering against the ground.

"We're not here to hurt you," Vanya's confident voice vibrated along the air.

Klaus laughed hysterically before his face suddenly turned deadly serious. "That's a shame."

Luther, struggling beneath a pile of ghosts trying to weigh him down, watched in awe as Klaus, lips pressed firmly together, held his glowing fists out. They flared brighter before suddenly turning smokey black, Klaus' eyes filling with the same inky black darkness as his body rose about a foot above the ground.

"You always...have to hurt... to win." With the last, darkly spoken word the room was suddenly thrust into wavering shadow and light, the boundaries between the living and the dead having been ripped apart. The siblings felt their flesh fall from their spirits, crumbling to the ground, their remaining soul's shocked and confused amongst the rest of the dead.

Another body suddenly appeared from thin air, catapulted across the room before rolling to a stop. Spirit Klaus pushed to his hands and knees, eyes flying about the room, stupefied at the scene before him. His eyes connected with his Id's and they both froze, perplexed and speechless, the blue light dimming from Id's eyes.

Id-Klaus cried out as he felt a sharp pinch at his neck and reacted instantly by turning and thrusting a shadowed hand against a startled Ben who held a depressed syringe in hand. Ben's spirit was shoved backward into the wall where it dissipated into smoke and disappeared, body crumpling to the ground.

"NO!" Spirit-Klaus collided with his Id and suddenly his vision exploded into blinding white and he felt like he was being drowned in burning lava. The sensation was thankfully brief as he gasped and his eyes flew open to find Diego and Five looking down at him. He blinked rapidly, assaulted with a tsunami of memories, thoughts and feelings that his Id and Ego had both _experienced_ and _not_ and his brain simply couldn't compute.

He knew he was shaking something terrible and could tell Diego was trying to say something to him with a concerned twist to his brow that made him wonder if he was about to cry. Klaus' body felt weirdly torn between an insane adrenaline burst and a systematic shutdown of his muscles, he could feel the pull of something chemical trying to drag him under.

He saw flashes of red and blue gleam across his brother's faces and could just barely hear Five's disturbed voice mention something about police. Several more bodies filed into the room from the entryway with guns raised and yelling demands. That was when Klaus heard his sister's sobbing plea.

He fought the pull of the sedative and turned his head to see Luther and Vanya knelt over Ben's unmoving body. Ben's gentle, dark eyes remained open and unseeing toward him.

He wasn't certain of what happened next, he just knew he'd scrambled and fought against his brother's grasping hands, fighting and screaming to get to Ben. He had to fix it. He _had to!_ He could feel the tears trailing down his own cheeks and didn't care that he looked and sounded like a raving lunatic as he fought to get to Ben and fix what he'd done.

Police were all around them, grabbing at them and shouting and Klaus felt the sedative drag him harshly to the ground. He cried out hoarsely, begging to let him fix it but no one was listening. He felt his burning, heavy eyes closing against his will and with a final hazy push, he squeezed his fist.

...tbc


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

_...two milligrams narcan administered….coming around now...shit for veins...frequent flyer...any idea what he took…_

The uncaring voices filtered through the sticky haze that seemed to be rapidly thrusting his consciousness forward. He felt his wrist lifted and jerked harshly against something metal. He could feel a grinding grit in his eyes every time they moved beneath his eyelids, his nostrils filled with the smell of antiseptic.

"_Are these coming off?"_

"_Staying on. He's under PD arrest, the officer's talking with check-in."_

"_What'd he do this time?"_

"_I don't know, something about his brother dying-"_

That was the last thing he heard before his eyes flew open and he attempted to leap from the stretcher. Multiple hands grabbed and pushed at him but ultimately it was the handcuff attached to his wrist and the stretcher rail that kept him tethered. He kicked and bit and punched with his good arm; he had to fix it, he had to find his brother, had to pull him back. He screamed and got a good kick into a face, hearing a crunch before he threw himself to the side, his world suddenly turning over as the stretcher toppled and he crashed painfully to the hard, marble floor.

The room was in chaos as more feet came charging in, voices yelling out as hands grabbed at him. He screamed Ben's name, screamed Diego's name, Vanya's...anyone that would help him, bring him to Ben so he could fix it before it was too late. No familiar faces showed, just an eye-full of pissed off strangers, one of which shoved a needle in his arm.

The drug swept through his system like a torrent, warming his blood and feeding to his muscles which relaxed against his will. His tongue felt thick in his mouth and he couldn't tell if he was even saying words anymore or just hysterical noises that tapered off to broken whimpers.

He thought he could see another commotion happening just outside his curtained area as his vision started to blur once more; thought he saw Diego struggling against arms, yelling and throwing a punch. Thought he saw tears…

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

The corner of the couch had become his spot. Not because of any kind of territorial crusade or anything, but rather the other patients simply took a wide berth to him, as if they sensed the power within him, the veil of death; as if they knew what he'd done.

He didn't care.

That was the general theme for him now, not caring. He couldn't if he wanted to, which he didn't. It had been four days since he'd murdered his brother. Any hope of trying to return Ben's spirit to his body was obliterated; necrosis would've settled in. Even if there had been a small, internal voice that wanted him to consider the possibility of his siblings somehow managing to keep Ben's body alive, Klaus knew it was bogus. If they'd managed to keep his body alive, where were his siblings? Why was he still here, locked away in the hospitals psych ward? Why weren't they helping him save Ben?

He was there because he'd killed Ben, there was no hope of correction and his siblings didn't want anything to do with him anymore. Good for them. About time. He'd have dumped his ass off years ago if he'd had the choice. He'd tried on several occasions, but even the powers that be, it seemed, didn't want him. He'd thought it was luck for a long time, until that day in the club when he'd met his maker...well, then again, even she hadn't been certain if she'd made him or not. A screw-up from conception...Klaus Hargreeves.

If he had any of his faculties about him, he would've chuckled, or smirked, blinked..._something_. As it stood, the medications they shoved into him seemed to rob him of any inkling of emotional response. He spent most of his day in the corner of the worn, lumpy couch, knees to his chest with his arms tucked behind them, staring at the carpet with dark bruising along one side of his face and languid blinks every now and then.

That was how he'd found him.

Ben crouched in front of him, looking up at him with his dark, soulful, apologetic eyes. "It's okay," he said, but Klaus knew it wasn't. Ben was too forgiving, too good...he deserved better. Klaus would ignore him until he went away, until he became so frustrated he'd move on to whatever came next. It had to be better than hanging around your murdering fuck-up of a brother.

"Klaus," Ben softly tried again, trying to get him to focus more clearly. "We're getting you out of here."

He still didn't respond, wasn't even sure if he could; his mouth felt glued shut. He settled with a tiny shake of his head which had Ben's brow scrunching with concern and shifting so he sat facing him on the couch.

"Hey, look at me," Ben reached forward and rested a hand on his shoulder. The hand rested _on_ his shoulder. Didn't pass through it or hover or leave him with a chill. It was solid and warm and gently squeezed.

Klaus felt his face crumble as burning heat pressed against his eyes and the massive relief that hit him like a train was quickly drowned with overwhelming guilt and shame. Ben was alive. He didn't know how, but he was alive. He was here and he was alive and he was suddenly looking very heart-broken.

He was pretty sure he was shaking as Ben's warm hand moved to his neck and he leaned in closer. "I'm okay, Klaus," he whispered. "You did it. You pulled me back. I was barely gone for a minute."

Klaus hated that his brother could speak about only being dead for a minute - as if that were okay, as if it were a forgivable offense. He could hear gasping and realized it was him, hyperventilating. He suddenly had a burst of speed as he scrambled over the armrest of the couch, tumbling to the floor and knocking over a chair as he did so. Ben was there in a heartbeat, trying to help.

Klaus knew he'd yelled something at him in the way Ben had suddenly hesitated, confused and concerned. Klaus continued yelling and clambered backwards, uncoordinated arms and loose legs sending him into other patients who cried out and shoved at him.

"No!" Klaus finally managed something sensible when Ben moved to help again. "Not going back. I'm not going back! Go away!" he ended loudly just before a couple of large, muscular men appeared and dragged him to his room, screaming _I'm not going back_.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Diego was the next one to visit him. He'd been in the ward four days but after his breakdown with Ben, they'd moved him to the long term ward where they stuck the super crazy ones that had to be confined to their locked rooms with nothing in them but a mattress, some blankets, a toilet and a caged camera that never turned off. Klaus' sudo-bed was in the corner and allowed him to see through a low window behind an iron cage.

The doctor's had upped his meds and added stronger ones; ones that let you know they weren't messing around. Ones that changed your brain chemistry, that removed all feeling and made the world seem detached and...less.

He thought he hadn't cared _before_..._now_ the space whale could have fallen from the sky and he would simply watch it's descent with zero emotional response and a simple thought of _there it is_. That was what Diego had been unfortunate enough to walk in on.

He didn't know it was him with the way he sat tucked into the corner, head leant against the wall, eyes glued to the blurry haze outside. He'd heard the pacing footsteps though after security locked the door behind his brother. Clearly Diego had things to say but was too worked up to get them out.

Finally his mattress dipped a bit and Diego sat opposite him, legs crossed. Klaus felt his eyes blink languidly but didn't feel compelled to break from the vacant stare with outside.

"So," Diego hedged, scratching at his head, "Ben wanted to make sure you knew he's very much alive. You didn't kill him-"

"Yes I did," Klaus' voice was emotionless and flat.

"Okay," Diego nodded in consent. "But you also saved him. So there's that."

"I'm not going back."

"Ben filled us in on everything," he forged on, ignoring the soft-spoken declaration. "No one blames you...for _any_ of it. Except for the underwear; _that_ I'm holding you accountable for." There was a long pause. "You hearing me, bro?" Diego's warm hand lightly wrapped around his ankle, giving it a small squeeze. "Klaus, look at me."

When he didn't, his brother grabbed his chin and pulled his attention by force, not that Klaus put up any kind of resistance. He blinked slowly at him, waiting. Diego, for his part, was on a quest, searching for something in his eyes, a haze of grief surrounding him. Klaus didn't know what he was looking for, but he absently wished him luck.

"Look, whatever bullshit ideas you've got floating around in there," Diego lightly tapped a finger against Klaus' forehead, "you can just forget it." Diego's eyes hardened a bit. "You're not something we need protection from, Klaus," he declared firmly. "So if you want to hang around this dump that's fine," he sneered. "But don't for one second believe it's because it's what's best for us."

Diego stormed out shortly after that when Klaus continued to blink back emotionlessly.

Vanya returned the next day. Klaus was starting to think maybe the ward had a _one visitor a day_ policy. Her approach was different. She'd climbed onto the mattress and pressed up against him, mimicking his position after grabbing his hand and twining their fingers together. They sat like that for a while, staring out the window.

A knock later sounded on the door and Vanya sat up a bit, her allotted time obviously coming to a close. She turned so she was kneeling next to him and wrapped her arms around his shoulder and head. She pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead and then whispered that she loved him and to _come home soon_.

The next day brought another visitor and he'd be lying if he didn't feel a small inkling of surprise at their arrival. Luther awkwardly climbed onto the mattress, sitting opposite him much like Diego had, only the mattress dipped heavily beneath him. The minuscule sense of surprise was enough to have him turning his head a bit to watch his large brother stare back at him uncomfortably.

"Ben wanted to come again, but um...well," Luther's puppy eyes roamed around, heavy with concern. "I thought maybe it was time I um...apologized," Luther caught his gaze. "I haven't been a very good leader and...an even worse brother."

Luther's head dipped to his own lap, his gloved fingers pulling at a loose thread. "You needed help and I was too wrapped up in my own issues," he sighed. "I blamed everything on your drug habit and ignored all the shit dad was putting the rest of you through."

Luther looked up again. "For that, I'm sorry."

He shifted on the bed again. "Things are different now. _We're all_ different. We should be together as a family." He lifted a hand, hesitated but then rested it on Klaus' bare foot. "Come home, Klaus."

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

The familiar ripping of space and time echoed through the hollow room. He didn't have to look to see who it was; only one person in the world could get in and out of the room without using the door...well, _living_ person anyways. He sighed and rolled his eyes but didn't bother greeting his brother, choosing instead to continue his lithium hazed stare out of the room's barred window, his forehead leant against the cool concrete wall as he sat huddled in the corner.

"Klaus," Five greeted casually, and Klaus just _knew_ his brother had slipped his hands into his pockets and was leisurely moseying toward the bed.

He sighed deeply, completely numb and not in a good way either. "What do you want?" he asked softly.

"How are you doing?"

"Like I told the others, I'm staying." Despite having been staring out of the window for the better part of a week, he really couldn't pinpoint any particular thing he'd actually seen. His brain just felt like a bowl of mush that was slowly leaking out of his ears; his limbs felt like rubber but weighed down by anvils; and every time he thought he was about to have an emotion of some kind - _any kind_ start to pop it's head up, it was like the anti-psychotics suddenly took a head-shot and the emotion dropped away into nothingness.

He'd had a visitor every day and yet he'd never in his life felt more alone.

And he knew he deserved so much worse. Which was saying something considering all the shit he'd pulled throughout his life; drug user, prostitution, thief, public displays of disorderly conduct, disorderly conduct. He supposed in retrospect, he really hadn't been _that_ terrible before he'd tacked on homicidal psychopath. Go figure. Now with the amount of heavy drugs they kept him pumped full of, he hadn't seen an undead much less heard them since he'd been checked in, kicking and screaming and overall maniacally suicidal.

Through all the muddled thoughts and memories, there was one belief that remained clear and true and at the forefront at all times...he couldn't go home. No matter how much Ben and Diego and Vanya and Luther and apparently now Five assured him it was okay - it wasn't okay. And yeah, maybe it hadn't 100% been his fault...but it _had_ been him, _his _power, _his _id. Whether someone else had made him a catalyst or not, _he'd_ nearly killed his family.

He understood Vanya's timidness now, her guilty glances, her desire to speak but drowned out by her feeling of unworthiness. She deserved better though. Vanya had a good heart and _wanted_ to be better. Klaus...he was just too damn tired and too frayed thin to care. He didn't see himself climbing out of the pit this time...no sense dragging the family through what would inevitably end in his unremarkable death, if the powers that be would grant him even that.

Suddenly Five was crouching on the bed, face right in front of his own and studying him critically. "What the hell did they give you?"

Klaus couldn't even find the will to respond and just sighed and looked out the window once more. Had he not been drowning in nothingness, he might've actually felt surprised when a small hand brushed against his head and rested just behind his ear.

"I'm not here to convince you to come back." And just like that, Klaus' world shifted and he tipped over as he found himself sitting on a large blanket spread out on the grass in the Hargreeves mansion courtyard. Five sat comfortably next to him, smug smile on his face as he picked up a mug of coffee that sat waiting for him. "That's _her_ job."

Suddenly piano music filled the courtyard, a soft, romantic tune Klaus was quite familiar with. He slowly pushed himself up to a seated position, his eyes drawn to the small girl who slow walked across the yard in what was undoubtedly one of her mom's old academy outfits, only the skirt had been replaced with a flared rainbow tutu and the sweater vest had been covered with gold shimmery fringe that sparkled in the sunlight. Her dark hair was pulled into two mouse-ear buns, her face painted perfectly with makeup and her fingernails shone brightly with blue polish.

She was beautiful.

As the lyrics filled the courtyard, Claire twirled and performed the practiced movements that complimented the meaning behind the words. It had been such a cheesy 80's love song that Klaus had known would drive his siblings bonkers but would be forced to sit through because it was their niece and they were bound by obligation. Even the movements they'd come up with had been super cheesy but now he couldn't help but feel completely drawn in and riveted by the lilting piano and the little girl putting every last bit of herself into the coordinated dance as if she were a Broadway master and she knew it.

Suddenly Ben appeared in full tuxedo and hair slicked back. With a gentle smile he walked across to Claire who twirled around him and suddenly they were doing the moves together and in tandem. Claire had obviously taught him Klaus' part and taught him well. Even the laughable and silly moves he did which kind of blew Klaus' mind. His brother had always been the best of them, soft-hearted, loyal, honest, loving, trustworthy - he was an honest to god good person. But center of attention...not his forte by any means. And yet there Ben was, performing a coordinated dance for the entire family to the sweet voices of Air Supply and with a smile that made it clear it was his honor.

Claire suddenly jumped into Ben's hands who lifted her and swung her around beautifully. For the first time in what felt like forever, Klaus felt his chest turn heavy with emotion as warmth filled him and his eyes misted over.

Claire made sweeping gestures with her hands against Ben's face, so tenderly innocent with her understanding of love and expression. As the song turned more into the classic 80's rock ballad, the moves became more cheesy with air guitars and well known dance moves from famous movies including a few dirty moves that Klaus had known would make her mom cringe.

Claire's movements were messy, overdone, and imperfect, everything you'd expect from a little girl...Klaus couldn't tear his eyes away. To him she was breathtaking and perfect.

Unexpectedly, Claire pirouetted right up to him with a beaming smile and opened one hand in front of his face which had _HELLO_ written on it in marker followed by the other hand which said _STAY_.

Throat suddenly tight with an un-swallowable lump, he looked up into her dark, joyful eyes and could feel a few hot tears burning down his cheeks. He drew in a shaky breath, smiled, and in a hoarse, airy voice told her, "You...were magnificent."

She giggled excitedly and then fell into him, wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging for all she was worth. He hugged back, burying his face as he was flooded with feeling and emotion and all the things that he'd thought were dead within him.

Claire pulled back with a softer smile this time and wiped at his tears. "I love you Séance."

"I love _you_ little witch."

And just like that the other siblings which had been behind, watching, sat on the large blanket with heaping plates of food in hand that Grace had prepared. Diego took the other seat next to Klaus, first wrapping his arms around his brother and pulling him in, refusing to let go as Klaus felt the damn of emotions break free. He sobbed into his brother's neck, silently but for the gasps and hiccups of air. After a long moment, Klaus finally nodded, having regained enough composure to be able to face his family once more. Diego mussed his hair gently playful before giving Klaus a small elbow-shove toward a plate.

Not once did anyone mention the traumatic events of the last week nor the possibility of Klaus going back to the hospital. As if his return home had already been set in stone by the little pipsqueak that sat across from him between Allison and Luther, elatedly biting into a cupcake with candy pearls on top.

Klaus didn't socialize, wasn't sure if he could at that point. He felt completely drained and wrecked and yet...home. It was such a simple word, home. And yet it intertwined with so much meaning and feeling. His entire life he'd believed most of it to be bad. But now, as his tired gaze drifted over his siblings, his family, he couldn't help but see home in a new light.

Vanya and Five conversed about some news report they thought was bogus; Claire captured Allison and Luther's attention with the latest gossip in grade school and Grace instructed Diego on how to impress a certain female cop with fine dining. That left Ben, who was already watching Klaus when he met his gaze. Ben gave him a small, knowing grin, trusting Klaus to read between the lines.

He did. And he returned it with the smallest of grins back, the best he could muster at that time. The picnic didn't last too long. Just long enough for everyone to have their fill and for Klaus, utterly physically and emotionally exhausted, to list sideways into Diego, his eyes drooping against his will.

Diego and Ben helped him upstairs while the others cleaned up. He dropped into his bed and didn't remember much after that. He certainly didn't remember Vanya checking in, pulling his comforter over him and pressing a kiss to his forehead, or Ben camping out on a bean bag in the corner of the room, reading a book.

He wasn't sure how long he was out for but he woke up feeling quite raw which, all things considering, was better than waking up in the state of nothingness he'd been in the last week. He found himself blinking up at the ceiling, thoughts less hazy than earlier now that some of the medications were starting to wear off. It also left him with a raging headache.

"There's some aspirin there along with something Pogo whipped up to help wean you off of the psych medications." Ben's voice was gentle as always but Klaus could tell he was speaking extra soft as if he knew.

Klaus sighed as he turned onto his side, picking up the aspirin and the glass of dark, purplish sludge. _Great_, he grimaced, imagining the upcoming detox he would undoubtedly have to suffer through once more. And it hadn't even been his fault this time. Well...technically; he _had_ been the one to lose his shit on everyone but it had been the doctors that had force fed him the drugs this time.

He dry swallowed the aspirin and then took a wary sip of the liquid and immediately scowled, barely able to swallow it. "Ugh, what is in this?"

Ben had an empathetic grimace as well, secretly glad he wasn't the one having to drink it. "No idea, but he said you need to down all of it for it to have any effect."

Klaus sighed dejectedly as he stared at the liquid. "I suppose I've downed worse," he offered and then drank the entire glass in one go. There was a tense period of about thirty seconds where the two waited expectantly for Klaus to suddenly lean over the bed and puke it all up. Klaus eventually just hummed and rolled onto his back to resume staring at the ceiling.

The room dropped back into silence once more for a while. Ben almost picked his book back up, however his patience paid off as his brother's lilting, tired voice drifted over to him. "How does that work? How do you make something out of nothing at all?"

Ben smirked softly. "That's a question for the eighties."

It got really quiet again and Ben knew the mood had shifted; could read it in the way his brother breathed, the way he sat so still staring at the ceiling.

"I thought I was dead," Klaus confessed softly. "I mean...I've never felt so...empty. Before all of this, I'd do _anything_ to feel numb. After though...it felt like every last shred of life had been drained from me. That maybe I was finally allowed to die and that was what hell was you know? Just...trapped with your own sense of nothingness. Knowing you're completely worthless and yet so numbed and devoid of anything you can't even find it within yourself to care."

Ben sat unmoving, just listening. He remembered every last moment of his time as a spirit walking among the living. There were times he'd find himself slipping between realities, where he'd suddenly be in the same world but void of living...just a lot of dead carrying on as if they were still alive. He never remained long in the other reality, usually just long enough for Klaus to realize his absence and suddenly he was back. It was a confusing, hazy place for certain, but nothing like Klaus had experienced which convinced him his brother hadn't actually died again. He wasn't sure if that was a reassuring thought or not.

"The things I did- whether fully cognizant or not," he amended as if sensing Ben's instinctive need to defend him, "I did them, it was me. And when it was all said and done, I couldn't even be bothered to care. I just felt," his hand swept through the air, "...nothing."

Klaus stilled for a moment and his voice took on it's usual airy lilt. "Until a little 6 year old girl with anime buns executed the world's most god-awful running man I've ever seen."

Ben smirked and tried to contain his snicker, not wanting to derail his brother's unusually outspoken introspection. Yes, his brother was habitually a talker, words just fell out of him like an arterial bleed, shooting everywhere, freaking everyone out and often staining. Klaus had been wounded deeply as a kid, hell they all had. But his brother had continued bleeding with a constant stream of words, complaints, sarcasm, whining, excuses...all symptoms of the bigger problem. And they all complained to him about it, that he never shut up, never grew up, never stopped this and never stopped that...but no one stopped to address the wound itself. Certainly not Klaus. He'd turned to self-medication instead.

Not that Ben blamed his siblings, they'd all had issues they were dealing with and Klaus certainly hadn't made it easy. To hear him talk so openly without a joke or pun or something to lessen the gravity of the wound...it was jarring, but not unwelcome.

"It was like a switch had been flipped and suddenly...I could _feel _again. How is it a little afro-pixie can create life out of nothingness?"

Ben drew in a deep, contemplative breath and stared at the spot on the ceiling Klaus seemed riveted to. "Maybe Air Supply really are just a pair of prophetic rock gods."

"No, you're thinking of Freddie Mercury."

It was Ben's turn to grow quiet, watching his brother's still form. "Give us a chance, Klaus. We're not perfect, but...we're trying." He could see his brother's moss-green eyes roam the ceiling a bit in consideration.

"I almost killed my family," he muttered quietly.

Ben nodded. "Kind of turning into a Hargreeves tradition at this point; starting with dad."

That seemed to break Klaus from whatever dark tunnel he'd been headed down as the smallest of grins pulled at the corner of his mouth. "You nearly murdered all of us with that poorly executed moonwalk."

"That moonwalk would've popped Madonna's cherry."

Ben silently congratulated himself as Klaus snorted and broke into a wide smile at the ridiculousness of his brother's statement. It was such a rare occurrence that Ben withdrew genuine laughter from Klaus. His brother was so quick witted and had perfected sarcasm and random humor that he often found himself simply trailing behind, playing catch up.

"I miss this," this Klaus sighed.

Ben smiled and couldn't have been more genuine in his response. "Me too."

...tbc


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

"A _space _whale?"

Ben had expected a bit more of a reaction until he remembered who he was confiding in; Five had the flattest expression he'd ever seen, voice following suit. Four would've asked with overly-dramatic inflection and full body gestures; Five just looked up at from beneath his brow.

"Apparently there were four incidents; once on a foreign planet with giant tree-like monsters; the next on a spaceship which he swore was actually a living creature - hence the whale; third time, still on the whale but it had crashed and died so he was on some moon or drifting rock in space-"

"This is _Klaus_ we're talking about, right?" Five interrupted, his connotation clear.

Ben sighed and sat down next to his brother in the surveillance room. "I know how it sounds. But given the last few weeks, he deserves the benefit of the doubt. He's sober; he's _been_ sober for a while now. If we want to start being a family, we need to start trusting each other."

Five's lips pursed together begrudgingly with a sigh through his nose. "And the fourth time?"

Ben barely hid a victorious smirk. "Obsidian-like city on a planet with a pulsating sun literally coming through the planet. Apparently there were creatures there too but they were very elusive."

Five hummed, fingers tapping against the desk, eyes distant. "Well obviously a sun and a planet can't share the same plane, it would disintegrate." Five paused, head tilting.

"What?"

"Unless they weren't sharing the same plane," Five mumbled as he reached forward and flipped open a notebook and started scratching his pen over the lined pages.

Ben's eyebrows rose a bit, waiting. Five continued ignoring him so he assumed he'd been dismissed. "Okay," he stood and made his way to the door, hesitating a moment - nope, still ignoring him. He walked out, closing the door softly behind.

Vanya smiled at him as she paused from her trek down the hallway. "Five in there?"

"Yup. He's not coming up from his notebook anytime soon. Sorry."

Vanya chuckled, "That's okay. Allison heard back from Eudora; she was able to call in a favor. They're going to release Patrick under house arrest for now until they can revisit the case. _Apparently_," she smirked pointedly, "his blood work was rerun and found to have Rohypnol in it, which reacted with one of his other medications and caused him to basically go crazy for a few hours."

"Huh," Ben nodded knowingly. "Wild that the hospital's first sample was found to be contaminated," he said with feigned conspiratorial interest.

"I know, right?" Vanya smiled again as they walked down the hallway together. "Allison posted the bail anyways and is footing the bill for the team of lawyers to handle the defamation of character."

"What about Claire?"

"She's staying. _And_," Vanya raised a brow, "the judge agreed to allow Patrick to serve house arrest here so he can be near his daughter."

"And because we live in a mansion with forty-something rooms probably helps."

"Exactly."

"Well," Ben's head tilted humorously. "This house is about to get a lot more interesting."

"Tell me about it."

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"What'cha doing?" Diego's knuckles tapped lightly on the door frame, not entirely sure if he was welcome.

"Wallowing in self pity," Klaus said dejectedly as he stared out his bedroom window.

Diego shifted uncomfortably. "Would you like to be doing something else?"

"Gods yes," Klaus scrambled to the edge of his bed, desperately hopeful. "Are you going somewhere?"

"Claire and I were going to hit up Burke's street."

Klaus' brow lifted a bit. "You're going shopping?"

Diego shrugged a self-conscious shoulder, eyes trailing the wall above his brother's head. "She wanted to get something for mother's day and I thought you...well you're always digging in her closet-"

"Can I drive?" Klaus cut him off excitedly as he jumped to his feet.

"No."

"Can I have spending money?"

Diego licked his lips at that and couldn't stop the snort of laughter or the smirk that followed. "You think you deserve spending money?" he teased.

"It's not for me," Klaus quickly clarified.

Diego felt his smile dissipate along with any remaining humor. He blinked and stepped closer to his brother, tilting his head to ensure he had his attention as he rested a hand on his brother's thin shoulder. "You know none of us blame you for what happened, right?"

"Oh, well," Klaus responded softly, his eyes unable to remain locked with Diego's. He drew in a deep breath. "Doesn't really change anything though, does it?" He smiled sadly at his brother.

Diego nodded slowly with pursed lips. "Like you said...sometimes it hurts to win."

"Actually what I said was you always have to hurt to win, but I get where you were going with that."

Diego smirked as he drew in an obviously patient breath and lovingly mussed his brother's hair. "Yes, you can have spending money. But only if you use some of it on yourself."

"Well," Klaus said, slightly scandalized, "if you're gonna be a bossy bitch about it."

Diego patted his head. "Good boy."

"By the way," Klaus hedged as he followed him out of his room, "who's the old lady wandering around that keeps bursting into tears?"

Diego rolled his eyes. "That's Gloria; from the Temps Commission. You killed everyone she knows."

"Oh," Klaus said lightly, uncertain how he felt about that. He didn't like hearing he'd murdered a slew of people, but he also didn't mind the time lord assholes being a thing of the past. "Thought she looked familiar."

Diego paused at the stairs. "Why _did_ you spare her?" he asked in such a way that let him know Diego had been pondering this for some time.

Klaus drew in a deep breath, his eyes squinting above his brother's head. "I guess I thought it'd be funny to watch everyone squirm over what to do with the old bag. I mean, on one hand she was like the central handler of all communications within the super evil club, but on the other hand she looks like Tweety-birds grandmother."

Diego snorted and broke into a fond smile, chuckling at the admission as they continued their trek down the stairs.

Claire had been ecstatic about going shopping with the Krakken and Séance. They'd parked Diego's car and then trekked it up and down Burke's street where rows of shops and stands lined the road. They'd just come out of a cafe with coffee in hand, tea for Claire who insisted she was adult enough. She even had the barista label hers as _Little Witch_ to match her uncle's nicknames that she'd also insisted be written on the coffee's. She really was a miniature Allison.

They drifted in and out of several clothing stores and gift shops, Claire and Klaus introducing Diego to professional browsing and bargaining. They were in a fancy women's clothing store when Klaus' eyes were drawn to the large, storefront window. He felt his muscles tense up as he spotted a familiar face across the road. He made sure Diego and Claire were occupied before slipping out of the store.

The round faced woman smiled brightly at him as he stopped a couple feet from her, out of arm's reach. Pedestrians passed around them as if they were within a bubble.

"You're a ballsy bitch, aren't you?" Klaus asked lightly but with a clear edge to his voice.

Kenny's mom tilted her head and with a shrug. "You exceeded my expectations," she said proudly.

"What did you do to me?"

"Oh, well," she looked suddenly sheepish, "that was an oopsie."

Klaus' brow rose. "An _oopsie?_"

"Science isn't perfect," she laughed, as if she'd just included him on an inside joke. "The hypothesis was solid but the energy distribution was all wrong. I'm surprised your brain didn't explode within your skull," she belly laughed jovially.

Klaus chuckled and nodded along scoffingly. "I don't suppose you're here to have another go at it?"

"Oh no, silly buns," she waved him off. "The data analysis proved exactly what I'd hoped for."

"Oh? Pray tell."

The woman quieted a moment and Klaus felt like a guinea pig being fondly admired by its owner. "Salvation."

Klaus had about twenty varying sardonic responses all of which he chose to bypass under the weight of anger and annoyance. This woman's _oopsie_ had nearly destroyed everything he had left in life. Anger didn't begin to justify what he felt rolling around within. He took a step closer, chin tilting down a bit, face calm. "Who are you, _really_?"

Kenny's mom beamed at him, hands clasping over her heart before simply disappearing once more.

Klaus felt his shoulders drop suddenly, not realizing he'd been nearly vibrating with tenseness. He ran a hand over his face and then noticed his brother standing just outside the store, watching him anxiously. He walked over in time for Claire to exit the shop and take her Uncle's hand.

Diego nodded once at him, concerned and suspicious eyes raking him over. Klaus nodded back with pursed lips as he stepped onto the sidewalk.

"What was that about?" Diego asked lightly for Claire's sake.

Klaus eyed the storefront, bypassing the question. "I'll be right back."

Diego frowned as Klaus pushed past them. "Where are you going?"

The bell above the shop's door jangled as Klaus stepped through. "To have a discussion with security."

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Five had about seven thick books opened up around him and countless more notebooks and documents spread all over the late Reginald's office, which he now claimed as his own personal thinking space. He even had a laptop that Vanya had purchased him, opened on the desk with several web pages opened to varying informational sites.

He was intently scribbling into his notebook, head bouncing between the paper and the screen. He'd been at it for hours and had zero plans of stopping anytime soon. That is until a hand slapped a large envelope onto his notebook. He lifted his head a bit, an impatient glare directed toward his lanky brother who was lucky he'd had knee-jerk reactions trained out of him at a young age, otherwise he'd have shoved his pen in Klaus' eye socket.

Curiosity won out though as Klaus stepped back, leaving the envelope. "What's this?" He opened it and dumped out several recently developed pictures of a crowded street.

"You're next fix."

Five glanced up at that, surprised by the seriousness in his brother's tone and was left even more confused as the taller man exited without another word, just a final dark glance backward before the door closed.

He returned his attention to the pictures which he spread out, hovering Reginald's fancy magnifying glass as he leaned over one of the photo's. He squinted as he recognized his brother in mid-conversation with a familiar red-headed woman. He quickly identified the same woman was in each of the photographs and leaned back in the chair, hands linking contemplatively across his chest.

He grinned.

THE END

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**POST NOTES:** Or is it? I plan to continue this series with another installment. Haven't started that story yet but I've got a good idea where I'd like to take it. Unfortunately, another rabbit trail has taken me down a differing path for the moment. I'm hoping to finish this other off-set story I'm working on and then return to the final installment in this series. Thank you so much for sticking with it and giving it a chance. I hope it brought some joy to some of you; I certainly enjoyed writing it!

Oh, and I apologize for writing what is technically a song-fic - well...started out as a song fic and turned into something else entirely. Yes, Out of Nothing At All by Air Supply is every bit of a cheesy 80's rock ballad but I forgot how much I loved it until I heard it on the radio for the first time in forever and the scene of Ben and Claire doing the coordinated dance for a sad Klaus who watched with teary eyes would not leave me alone. So again - apologies for the cheesy moment there but, well...it is was initially started this story so I couldn't _not _include it :)


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